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Explosive rat
- Thread starter MYGALE
- Start date
highlandotter
HONOURED MEMBER RIP
One like it starred in the film, the Guns of Navarrone.
Thank you for showing that, it's amazing to have pictures of such a thing...... Dave
pointblank0
BOCN Supporter
Absolutely brilliant! I've only seen black and white pictures before.
Ahhh! :tinysmile_shy_t: You must read the instructions - its an SOE official regulation piece of ordnance - and it does not discriminate between fat rat, skinny rat, brown rat, white rat....the instruction just begins with these words " a rat is skinned...":
(from the National Archives)
This was another creation of Charles Fraser Smith – head of Section XV whose job was to create special tools for SOE "work".
And why not some photos of the beast?
Well of course, it's for European Theater of Operation use - in some places of the world, rat is considered as a delicacy :tinysmile_kiss_t4: (http://news.softpedia.com/news/Roasted-Rats-on-Sticks-are-Vietnam-s-Signature-Delicacy-406249.shtml) :tinysmile_fatgrin_t
(from the National Archives)
This was another creation of Charles Fraser Smith – head of Section XV whose job was to create special tools for SOE "work".
And why not some photos of the beast?
Well of course, it's for European Theater of Operation use - in some places of the world, rat is considered as a delicacy :tinysmile_kiss_t4: (http://news.softpedia.com/news/Roasted-Rats-on-Sticks-are-Vietnam-s-Signature-Delicacy-406249.shtml) :tinysmile_fatgrin_t
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theres some more images of the exploding rats and other hidden explosive charges here in this earlier post
http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/82725-WW-II-UK-Hidden-explosive-charge?highlight
http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/82725-WW-II-UK-Hidden-explosive-charge?highlight
I know this is a 10 year old thread, but I am making an SOE Rat, Explosive display and have a few questions. In the sketch below two methods of igniting the rat are mentioned, but neither mention the primer, it is only shown in the drawing. My questions are:
1) What would the primer be? Was it just the standard 1oz Gun Cotton primer even though it looks smaller in the drawing? If it was, does anyone know a source for reproduction 1oz primers?
2) Does anyone know where I can buy deactivated original No.27 Detonators, or good reproductions? If not, can anyone give me the measurements of a real one so I can have some reproductions made?
3) Was the PE the green color as show above in the display made by Dreamk?
4) As it appears in the period photo below, many of the rats were put together in the factory with the Time Pencils inside. What color tab of time pencil would they have used?
Thank you in advance for any help.
John
1) What would the primer be? Was it just the standard 1oz Gun Cotton primer even though it looks smaller in the drawing? If it was, does anyone know a source for reproduction 1oz primers?
2) Does anyone know where I can buy deactivated original No.27 Detonators, or good reproductions? If not, can anyone give me the measurements of a real one so I can have some reproductions made?
3) Was the PE the green color as show above in the display made by Dreamk?
4) As it appears in the period photo below, many of the rats were put together in the factory with the Time Pencils inside. What color tab of time pencil would they have used?
Thank you in advance for any help.
John
