The M115 anti-crop bomb, also known as the feather bomb or the E73 bomb,
[ was a U.S. biological ]cluster bomb
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehi ...
designed to deliver wheat stem rust.
History
Mass production of the M115 bomb began in 1953.[ The weapon was a modified M16A1 cluster bomb, which was normally used to distribute ]airborne leaflet propaganda
Airborne leaflet dropping is a type of propaganda where leaflets ( flyers) are scattered in the air, normally by filling cluster bombs that open in midair with thousands of leaflets.
Military forces have used aircraft to drop leaflets to attem ...
or fragmentation weapons.[Russell, Alan and Vogler, John. ''The International Politics of Biotechnology: Investigating Global Futures'',]
Google Books
, Manchester University Press, 2000, pp. 173-74, (). The U.S. Air Force first pointed out the need for an anti-crop weapon in September 1947. In October 1950 the Air Force began procuring 4,800 M115 bombs.[Wheelis, Mark, et al. ''Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945'',]
Google Books
, Harvard University Press, 2006, pp. 217-18, (). By 1954, with the biological agent
Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and Toxin#Biotoxins, biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,2 ...
s causing wheat and rye rust standardized in laboratory culture, the U.S. Air Force prepared to transfer the agent to some 4,800 of the M115s.[ The deployment of the M115 represented the United States' first, though limited, anti-crop ]biological warfare
Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or Pathogen, infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and Fungus, fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an ...
(BW) capability.[Whitby, Simon M. ''Biological Warfare Against Crops'',]
Google Books
, Macmillan, 2002, pp. 156-57, (). Though the weapon was tested at Fort Detrick
Fort Detrick () is a United States Army Futures Command installation located in Frederick, Maryland. Fort Detrick was the center of the U.S. biological weapons program from 1943 to 1969. Since the discontinuation of that program, it has hosted m ...
, in Frederick, Maryland
Frederick is a city in, and the county seat of, Frederick County, Maryland, United States. Frederick's population was 78,171 people as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Maryland, second-largest ...
, it was never used in combat.[Link, Kurt. ''Understanding New, Resurgent, and Resistant Diseases: How Man and Globalization Create and Spread Illness'',]
Google Books
, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, p. 90, ().
Specifications
The M115 was a bomb that was converted from a leaflet bomb and to be used to deliver wheat stem rust.[Endicott, Stephen and Hagerman, Edward.]
''York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
'', June 2002, accessed November 16, 2008. Wheat stem rust culture consisted of a dry particulate matter which was adhered to a light-weight vector
Vector most often refers to:
* Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction
* Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism
Vector may also refer to:
Mathematics a ...
, usually feathers. Because of its method of dissemination, the bomb was commonly referred to as the "feather bomb".[Smart, Jeffery K. ]
Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare
'': Chapter 2 - History of Chemical and Biological Warfare: An American Perspective,
PDF
p. 51), ''Borden Institute
The Borden Institute is a U.S. Army “Center of Excellence in Military Medical Research and Education”.
In 1987, U.S. Army Colonel Russ Zajtchuk conceived the idea for a “Center of Excellence in Military Medical Research and Education,” u ...
'', Textbooks of Military Medicine, PDF via Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base
Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. ...
, accessed November 16, 2008. The feathers would fall over a wide area when released.[ The M115 was shown to establish 100,000 foci of infection over a area.][
]
Tests involving the M115
According to a 1950 military report the M115 was tested in an area long and wide. The area consisted of plots sown with the Overland variety of oats
The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seed ...
, susceptible to the test agent, '' Puccinia graminis avenae'', but not to other strains of cereal rust.[ The test drops of the M115 showed that, from an altitude of , feathers could be spread over an area of . Three M115 feather bombs were dropped
upwind from the target area, which was then monitored for any changes. Estimates showed about a 30% reduction in yield from the infected area.][
]
See also
* E77 balloon bomb
* M33 cluster bomb
References
{{U.S. biological weapons
Biological weapon delivery systems
Cold War aerial bombs of the United States
Cluster munitions
Biological anti-agriculture weapons