A chicken starts WW3?

Yeh, because the weapons designers at Aldermaston would not think of putting the chicken in a separate section. Moreover pecking at wires is unlikely to set off a bomb.

It sounds outlandish, but it does have some logic to it. Other proposals involved insulating blankets, but those are not remembered because we can't make fowl puns about them.

That insulating blanket idea seems like a cover-up to me.

Hmm, a dinosaur descendant, living that close to a radiation source. Ah, the possibilities...of B movies at least. :D
 
The chickens appear to be coming home to roast!

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Why did the chicken cross the road?

Because it had been hurled over it in a ballistic trajectory by an exploding tactical nuclear weapon!

(Assuming the chicken was coated in a nuke-proof basting sauce first!?)
 
Clever fellows, these boffins.

The problem though, seems to be maintaining the chicken.

I note that the design made provision for one weeks supply of food (and water, air etc). Now, a chicken can certainly live a week without food. So that would give two weeks between replenishment. It would not seem difficult for some local fellow to go round and replenish the food supply on a weekly basis. Especially as it would only be needed during winter, for the rest of the year the chickens (Her Majesty's Chickens, one presumes) could be redeployed to other duties.

Issues that are not mentioned are some means of rationing the feed - chickens are imbeciles and given a pile of food will gorge themselves in one massive pig-out. And , what of disposing of the excreta - a weeks chicken poop is not inconsiderable.

Minor quibbles however. What a pity the idea was cancelled. Always the problem , so many people with limited imaginations. I blame the Civil Service Examinations.
 
I thought the point of the chicken was so that the mine didn't freeze and just not shut down? I am pretty sure the detonation mechanism for the mine was similar to that of an ordinary mine.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_peacock

During the fifties, the British miltary, in their wisdom saw fit to order nuclear land mines, yes you heard me right, ten-kiloton nuclear mines that had an eight second fuse if tampered with. Now these mines were to have live chickens in the casing to keep the bombs warm enough during the winter.

The order was later cancelled by the Army, probably due to it being clinically insane. Now what if the order was not cancelled, and ten of these bombs were planted throughout north Germany. Furthermore, suppose one of the casings was slightly faulty and the chicken managed to set it off?

Does this lead to an almost non-asb way of having a chicken starting a nuclear holocaust? What are the implications if war is somehow averted?
Well... "Blue Peacock" compare Melek Taus and the (Blue) Peacock throne.... (OK, so I first read of this variant of Satan in Peshawar Lancers, but it seems to be based on real myth/theology.) Seems appropriate somehow, for a WWIII, no?
 

Thande

Donor
Oh, don't be silly, the design was perfectly safe.

There's no way the chickens could figure out how to unlock the bike locks securing the nuclear bomb.
 
Well as long as they don't get opposable thumbs I don't think they'll be able to operate the bicycle locks. So barring any time traveling mad scientist geneticist we are safe.
 
What happens if the Soviets breed a better chicken?

Aren't chickens popular in India too? We could have a three-way nuclear wings race. :eek:
 
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