The Concept
Adams’ proposal eventually ended up with the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) – a 1940s’ version of DARPA, 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“.
Adams’ proposal thus went from a seemingly loony idea, to an official US government research project. A number of factors made the idea theoretically viable, and rendered it attractive to authorities. Bats fly at night, then seek dark and secluded places to roost in before dawn. Places such as attics, cubbyholes, and other nooks and crannies. Bats can also fly with loads exceeding their own bodyweight – loads such as tiny bombs. Also, during wartime, when resources were scarce and had to be carefully husbanded, bats were abundantly plentiful in the US. Finally, bats can be induced to hibernate, and while hibernating, they do not need food, care, or much maintenance.
Dr. Adams gathered together a coterie of supportive scientists, then took a team of naturalists from the University of California on a bat collecting expedition. Their studies and observations confirmed Adams’ hunch that the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat was the best candidate for the project. So Adams’ team netted hundreds of Free-tails, placed them in refrigerated trucks to induce hibernation, and sent them to Washington for further research.
There, Adams conducted an experiment in front of military brass using some Free-tails and dummy bombs. The results impressed his audience, and convinced them that the plan, which was designated Project X-Ray, warranted serious research. The US Army Air Force was put in charge of the project, whose subject matter was described as a “Test of Methods of Scattering Incendiaries“. Testing and research was ordered, so as to “[d]etermine the feasibility of using bats to carry small incendiary bombs into enemy targets“.