Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch dead chickens at the
windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all
traveling at maximum velocity.
The idea is to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne
fowl to test the strength of the windshields. British engineers heard
about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new
high speed trains.
Arrangements were made, and a gun was sent to the British engineers.
When the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurtled
out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield smashing it to
smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer’s
backrest in two, and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin like an
arrow shot from a bow. The horrified Britons sent NASA the disastrous
results of the experiment along with the designs of the windshield, and
asked the U.S. scientists for suggestions.
NASA responded with a one-line memo…
…”Thaw the chicken.”