16th-century artillery manual shows illustration of 'rocket cat' weaponry
26 replies, posted
[I]Published March 06, 2014
Associated Press[/I]
[img]http://global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/Scitech/Rocket%20Cats%20main.jpg[/img]
[I]March 4, 2014: An illustration from a manual by 16th century artillery master Franz Helm at the University of Pennsylvania library in Philadelphia. The manual on artillery and siege warfare depicts a cat and dove strapped with bombs to set fire to a castle or city which you cant get at otherwise. (AP PHOTO/MATT ROURKE)[/I]
[quote]PHILADELPHIA – You're a 16th century German prince plotting to crush a peasant rebellion, or perhaps you're leading an army against the Ottoman Empire or looking to settle the score with a rival nobleman. What's a guy looking for a tactical edge to do?
Bring on the rocket cats!
Fanciful illustrations from a circa-1530 manual on artillery and siege warfare seem to show jet packs strapped to the backs of cats and doves, with the German-language text helpfully advising military commanders to use them to "set fire to a castle or city which you can't get at otherwise."[/quote]
[url]http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/03/06/16th-century-artillery-manual-rocket-cat-weaponry/[/url]
So that's where the soviets got the idea with the dogs.
They're supposed to be rockets? i thought they were slow-burning bags, they grab animals from human-occupied settlements, i assume cats are good back then for vermin, so they'd have free reign of towns, the bags presumably burn and set fire to enemy places.
Bomb-strapped pigeons, they'd never expect that.
[QUOTE=Sand^;44147779]Bomb-strapped pigeons, they'd never expect that.[/QUOTE]
In an alternative 16th century everything is powered by rockets.
we cannot allow a rocket cat gap
Didn't the Romans set fire to pigs to freak out war elephants?
That's a pretty crazy concept for warfare. Are we certain this Franz Helm chappie wasn't Kang the Mad?
Regardless, even the 16th century had it's super-scientists, especially considering Da Vinci.
[QUOTE=ironman17;44147818]That's a pretty crazy concept for warfare. Are we certain this Franz Helm chappie wasn't Kang the Mad?
Regardless, even the 16th century had it's super-scientists, especially considering Da Vinci.[/QUOTE]
americans had plans for something like that as an alternative for the nuke Look at bat bobm.
[QUOTE=Sand^;44147779]Bomb-strapped pigeons, they'd never expect that.[/QUOTE]
Reminds me of the US's attempt to make Napalm Bats.
Rocket cats in a nutshell?
[img]http://imageshack.com/a/img62/510/kr88.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=bravehat;44147924]Reminds me of the US's attempt to make Napalm Bats.[/QUOTE]
Still not as ridiculous as the British plan to build nuclear land mines insulated by live chickens.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock[/url]
How great of a weapon that would be now, especially for the shellshock factor
"They came out at night.....the burning paws of hell"
[QUOTE=Sam Za Nemesis;44148027]Welcome to Sensationalist Headlines[/QUOTE]
Filed under the "Just for fun" department.
Just get rocket dogs to chase them away.
Weren't there bomb pigeons in Warhammer Fantasy?
[QUOTE=laserpanda;44148017]Still not as ridiculous as the British plan to build nuclear land mines insulated by live chickens.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock[/url][/QUOTE]
Nuclear landmines. I am [b]so[/b] glad they never actually made that.
An explosion from that, would be a CAT-astrophe....
HEH? HEH???
I like that all of the articles written about this wacky thing hyuck it up about things being rockets when there's stuff everywhere that points out they're firebombs. I've heard a number of incidents where a cat (or a raccoon) has accidentally caught its tail on fire and ended up freaking out, running under a car/house/into some brush, imagine a cat with a giant sack of burning (gunpowder?) strapped to its back
[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;44148270]Nuclear landmines. I am [b]so[/b] glad they never actually made that.[/QUOTE]
They did, however, invent [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIR-2_Genie"]nuclear anti-air missiles[/URL]. Just shoot it in the general direction of an enemy bomber formation and let the blast do the rest, no need for targeting or fine aim.
I would see this as rarely working
[editline]6th March 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Moustacheman;44148240]Weren't there bomb pigeons in Warhammer Fantasy?[/QUOTE]
you obviously know there were why not just say it instead of using it to hint at your knowledge of warhammer
Explosive birds, eh? Reminds me of something.
[img]http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080704144755/worms/images/e/e7/Homing_Pigeon.gif[/img]
[QUOTE=Sand^;44147779]Bomb-strapped pigeons, they'd never expect that.[/QUOTE]
Interestingly, The US Military actually did research into pigeon-guided bombs with B.F. Skinner (of Skinner Box fame) during WWII. The project was shelved when electronics became cheaper and more practical.
so catapults that throw "that cat" can effectively demolish forums
[QUOTE=ironman17;44147818]That's a pretty crazy concept for warfare. Are we certain this Franz Helm chappie wasn't Kang the Mad?
Regardless, even the 16th century had it's super-scientists, especially considering Da Vinci.[/QUOTE]
Galileo was probably more important. But Da Vinci was good at pretty much everything so there's that.
[QUOTE=Andokool12;44149795]you obviously know there were why not just say it instead of using it to hint at your knowledge of warhammer[/QUOTE]
You know you don't have to be such a meanie.
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