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Fowl Bomb

by | 1st, April 2004

‘ON this of all days you expect to read stories of a cow who really did jump over the moon, a crack troop of flying kamikaze pigs or a chicken-powered nuclear bomb.

‘I think I’d prefer a battery farm, if it’s all the same with you’

But only one of the above makes the news pages this morning – and it has the rare distinction of being true.

To be fair, the Times seems more worried than its readers that it has been the victim of an April Fool as it relates the story of the chicken-powered bomb.

You’ve heard talk of dirty bombs – well, this was a fowl bomb.

The seven-tonne Blue Peacock, which had half the explosive force of the nuclear bomb that devastated Nagasaki, was designed during the Cold War to stop the Red Army advancing across West Germany.

It was effectively a giant landmine – with just one small problem.

Scientists wrestled with the conundrum of how to keep the bomb at the correct temperature so that it would remain stable while allied forces retreated.

Then, nuclear physicists at the Aldermaston nuclear research station in Berkshire hatched a cunning plan – live chickens would generate enough heat to keep the device operational for a week.

“The birds,” explains the Times, “were to be placed inside the casing of the bomb, given seed to keep them alive and prevented from pecking at the wire.”

The landmine could then be remotely detonated – and the invading Red Army would end up with some serious egg on their faces.’



Posted: 1st, April 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink