17. A Batty Proposal Finds Enthusiastic Support
Dr. Adams’ proposal eventually ended up with the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), which investigated and coordinated research into ideas that might help the war effort. The NDRC forwarded the proposal to a zoologist named Donald Griffin, who had conducted groundbreaking research into animal behavior, and who specialized in bats and their navigation methods.
It was right up Griffin’s alley, and he became an enthusiastic supporter of the plan. “This proposal seems bizarre and visionary at first glance,” he wrote in April 1942, “but extensive experience with experimental biology convinces the writer that if executed competently it would have every chance of success“. He went on to add that, properly executed, Bat Bombs were “likely to cause severe damage to [Japanese] property and morale“.