The
M115 anti-crop bomb, also known as the
feather bomb or the
E73 bomb, was a U.S. biological
cluster bombCluster munitions or cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapons that eject smaller submunitions: a cluster of bomblets. The most common types are designed to kill enemy personnel and destroy vehicles...
designed to deliver wheat stem rust.
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 propagandaAirborne leaflet propaganda is a form of psychological warfare that militaries use in foreign conflict to alter the behavior of people in enemy-controlled territory. Airplanes have been instrumental in the deliverance of leaflets over enemy territories. In conjunction with air strikes, this...
or
fragmentation weaponsFragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
. The U.S. Air Force first pointed out the need for an anti-crop weapon in September 1947.
The
M115 anti-crop bomb, also known as the
feather bomb or the
E73 bomb, was a U.S. biological
cluster bombCluster munitions or cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapons that eject smaller submunitions: a cluster of bomblets. The most common types are designed to kill enemy personnel and destroy vehicles...
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 propagandaAirborne leaflet propaganda is a form of psychological warfare that militaries use in foreign conflict to alter the behavior of people in enemy-controlled territory. Airplanes have been instrumental in the deliverance of leaflets over enemy territories. In conjunction with air strikes, this...
or
fragmentation weaponsFragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
. 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. By 1954, with the
biological agentA biological agent is a bacterium, virus, prion, fungus, or biological toxin that can be used in bioterrorism or biological warfare. More than 1200 different kinds of biological agents have been described and studied to date...
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 warfareBiological warfare , also known as germ warfare, is the use of pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, other disease-causing biological agents, or the toxins produced by them as biological weapons ....
(BW) capability. Though the weapon was tested at
Fort DetrickFort Detrick is a U.S. Army Medical Command installation located in Frederick, Maryland, USA. Historically, Fort Detrick was the center for the United States' biological weapons program ....
, in
Frederick, MarylandFrederick is a city in west-central Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Frederick County, the largest county by area in the state of Maryland. Frederick is an outlying community of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of a...
, it was never used in combat.
Specifications
The M115 was a 500-pound bomb that was converted from a leaflet bomb and to be used to deliver wheat stem rust. Wheat stem rust culture consisted of a dry particulate matter which was adhered to a light-weight vector, usually feathers. Because of its method of dissemination, the bomb was commonly referred to as the "feather bomb". The feathers would fall over a wide area when released. The M115 was shown to establish 100,000 foci of infection over a 50-square mile area.
Tests involving the M115
According to a 1950 military report the M115 was tested in an area eleven miles long and 1.5 miles wide. The area consisted of 15 half-acre plots sown with the Overland variety of oats, 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 4,000 feet, feathers could be spread over an area of 12 square miles. Three M115 feather bombs were dropped one mile upwind from the target area, which was then monitored for any changes. Estimates showed about a 30 percent reduction in yield from the infected area.