5 Crazy Inventions of War

[@NotWhatYouThink]

Which invention was your favorite? Or is there a better one that we didn't mention?

[@cropsy1]

Wheel of death!!!!

[@e.sstudios1015]

Convair XFY-1 POGO, because why not?

[@Mavve69]

@@e.sstudios1015 Same

[@dancing_odie]

I think the battle sled is a great idea for WW2. APCs would have replaced em like you said but they would have been cheap, low profile, easy to get in and out of, and can be dropped off.

[@Rockethead293]

@@conor7154 those were the original torpedoes. First documented use in the civil war

[@rekire___]

Perhaps the best invention is the one we made along the way

[@Flaccid_Child1]

Perhaps

[@keonyang3332]

@@Flaccid_Child1 lol

[@Fr4ncM]

Perhaps what we thought was what wasn't along the way.

[@justincancelosa5773]

I think I know what you mean. The invention of Friendship!

[@floridanews8786]

The invention of friendship and love? (Hahaha I'm nuts 😎)

[@Cedrikkkk]

The Bouncing Bomb is very interesting to me, the dam you showed at 10:03 is actually very close to where I live and I've heard many stories from old people that are remembering the outcome of Operation Chastise as their homes have been flooded away. The dam got repaired and is still a tourist attraction! They even have a 1:1 replica of the bomb that was used and it's impressive how big that thing actually is.

[@keonyang3332]

Very interesting

[@Ukraineaissance2014]

Have you ever seen the dambusters film?

[@TheSkystrider]

Damn. I had no idea bouncing bomb was a thing!! I'm quite shocked.

[@Cedrikkkk]

@@Ukraineaissance2014 I didn’t knew about the movie until now. Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely watch it very soon! :)

[@infinityknight43]

Cool

[@brett4264]

The "Bouncing Bomb" had a backspin so when it hit the damn wall, it would roll down the wall to explode at depth and destroy the damn. The spinning bomb would gain traction against the damn wall and speed downwards. This was the genius of the idea. So many KZbin videos get this fact wrong. The "Bouncing Bomb" sounded crazy but it turned out to be very effective. It was by no means a failure. It was only used so sparingly because aircrew had to fly at low altitude towards the antiaircraft guns on the damn. They were easy targets. That's why losses were so great.

[@JWQweqOPDH]

You spelled 'dam' wrong. The way you spelled it means to condemn. A dam is a barrier to hold back water or in some cases other fluid.

[@logancowie]

A drone launched version would fix this problem as no lives would be at stake, so maybe there will be a resurgence in the use of bouncing bombs

[@Ukraineaissance2014]

I wonder if they ever attempted a smaller design to use with mosquitoe aircraft instead

[@johngammon6450]

Likely autocorrect was the culprit.

[@brandonlatzig]

@@logancowie the problem here is just how heavy the bombs were. They had to be huge to shatter dams. A drone carrying one would still be slow and easy to shoot down.

[@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish]

Could you please do a video on combat engineers (sappers)? They do some pretty interesting stuff such as: building and destroying fortifications, making roads, clearing mines with mine flails, (like the one you showed in the very last clip,) building pontoon bridges, etc. They don't get as much recognition as they should, I feel. Though I imagine how they do these things is... Not What You Think.

[@MrCreeper1O2]

Agreed. I'd be super interested. In the Worms series of video games, they have something called a "Tasty worm lick", which I thought was a stupid thing with bombs spaced out on a rope. Turns out, sappers actually use something like this to clear paths through minefields

[@iRoamYouTube]

Maybe they should combine the " wheel of death " with the " bouncing bomb " and get the " Bouncing Death Wheel " 🤔

[@whiskeybuilder6335]

You shouldn't encourage them. They'll put somebody on that.

[@styxart1]

@@whiskeybuilder6335hol up let em cook

[@michakasprzak6869]

The wheel of death is literally what pepople would do in Kerbal Space Program or other game of that type We got somethin round attach rockets IGNITE the shit be spinning cool wheel XDD

[@somedood9989]

Man, I did this in Bad Piggies. 4 fireworks and a tnt and you're set! You don't even need a fancy game to do this

[@ZeldaTheSwordsman]

The bouncing bomb stands out as the one thing on this list that performed as desired (the casualty rate on Operation Chastise planes was from heavy anti-air fire and enemy planes, if anyone was wondering). IIRC the idea behind the VF-1 was especially to scout a battlefield that had been cratered by one or more nukes (this was after all the same era that gave us the insane "Davy Crocket" weapons system - how come that thing wasn't on the list?)

[@mosog8829]

That sledge idea must have been the bumpiest ride ever.

[@jessicacolegrove4152]

but still if you have tanks and no ifv's and need to cross a field that you suspect is mined it could be a feasable option

[@СЕРГЕЦСергеев-с7у]

@@jessicacolegrove4152 да это лучше вариант чем бмп и в любом случае лучше чем пешем двигаться за техникой - силуэт ниже и сами сани могут иметь сталь защищающую от пуль и осколков, можно реально быстро двигаться в таких санях даже по сильным ухабам

[@krisgamer008]

The battle sled is actually a great idea

[@danielduncan6806]

It works-ish. It worked when it worked and didn't work when it didn't work. It is that "didn't work" part people get hung up on. But given the perfect conditions for it, it would be great. Just as long as your enemy provides perfect conditions for you.

[@niklasmolen4753]

Its dependence on the ground surface makes its usefulness limited. But it is very cheap.

[@acctsys]

I think the bad part is that the infantry, which should have better situational awareness of the immediate surroundings unlike the tank, just end up being as blind as the tank is, essentially making the exercise pointless. The benefit of combined arms is lost.

[@stevetennispro]

@@niklasmolen4753 That's what iteration is for. Modifications could be made to adjust to terrain. The question though is are the gains worth the costs.

[@kwik01]

Seems like unless you were in line with the tank tread, like in the first part of the video, you would be susceptible to land mines being triggered by such a large flat surface. No thanks!

[@TheLumberjack1987]

The flying recon platform already got reinvented for today, that's what drones are for. The problem with the vertical takeoff plane's landing could be probably fixed with modern autopilots and backwards facing cameras, like we already have for cars.

[@NotWhatYouThink]

We already have VTOL technology, which works while the airplane is horizontal 😉

[@TheLumberjack1987]

@@NotWhatYouThink true, but imho taking off in a horizontal position vs in a vertical position is different enough that I'd not consider one to be the philosophical successor to the other. They are more two distinctly different approaches to solve the same problem. Just like I wouldn't call ICBMs a spiritual successor to nuclear bombers, just more practical, efficient and effictive different solutions to do the same job. While with the drones, that's really just the exact same thing as the recon platform back then, only that the soldier can do the same job without exposing himself in the process.

[@NotWhatYouThink]

There is definitely many ways to solve a problem. What I meant was that taking off and landing in a horizontal position seems a lot simpler than doing it vertically.

[@TheLumberjack1987]

@@NotWhatYouThink oh yeah 100%, it seems to come with all sorts of practical drawbacks, my comment wasn't meant to imply that the concept is or could be superior to the horizontal layout, just that it could probably be done today without the pilot needing to pull an exorcist every time he needs to land :p.

[@iamnormal8648]

@@TheLumberjack1987 what we have today is better than what they had. Landing those old VTOL's was a b*.

[@ssuchanek]

The tank in the outro seems to be equipped with a mine clearing device. Something quite similar is actually in active use with the German army - called "Keiler" (German for male boar)

[@HK47_115]

What is this supposed to do? Fling the landmines back at the enemy? 🤨

[@ssuchanek]

@@HK47_115 Nope. At least the German version has rather massive chunks of steel on the end of those rotating chains. They are supposed to either explode or otherwise destroy mines.

[@harrymu148]

miclic be like

[@thiloreichelt4199]

These devices ar called mine flails. They either detonate the mines or crack them in pieces, rendering them inoperable. They are not 100% effective, they may occasionally fling an operational mine to the side. They are mostly used to build a save way through a mine field.

[@joehughes5177]

That's a flail. Anti mine vehicle

[@user-vj9qz3br6l]

The bouncing water bomb was very successful at taking out dams

[@benx6264]

I can't believe someone hasn't tried to rework that VZ-1 flying recon platform into something for the rich civilian thrill-seeker market.

[@Kizron_Kizronson]

Somebody has, there are multiple modern incarnations of that platform around today.

[@plang42]

The bouncing bombs did what they were designed to do so they were not a failure. They just didn't need to destroy any more dams in the battle fronts.

[@jimsvideos7201]

The sleds were probably a hell of a rough ride, but it beats walking.

[@stevetennispro]

On mines... especially! ;)

[@hypervious8878]

Well the flail tank featured in the end of the video has been revived for mine clearing in modern post-conflict zones. Didn't see a lot of action when it was invented but today it's saving lives and restoring livelihoods.

[@HealthCarePro]

The battle sled was really simple and impressive. Transporting soldiers while protecting them from small arm fire and anti-personnel mines as well as taking them to an ambush site without being noticed...this is brilliant.

[@Mavve69]

These inventions was not what I thought ;)

[@joehughes5177]

That flail at the end was pretty good. We have them today

[@cyclonetaylor7838]

It was a Matilda Scorpion flail tank. It pre-dated the Sherman Crab.

[@NotSoDangeruss]

Hey NWYT. I've been a fan for years now and I love all your vids. Keep up the good work man.

[@NotWhatYouThink]

Cheers!

[@NotSoDangeruss]

@@NotWhatYouThink Thanks man. My favorite clip from your channel is when you asked the tour guide for the submarine in New York to get inside the torpedo tube. I couldn't stop laughing from that. Great content.

[@NotWhatYouThink]

Hehe yeah, I couldn’t help but ask 😅 I’m glad you enjoy our content 👍🏼

[@andyc3088]

10:09 was an American aircraft testing the American version of the bouncing bomb. The German also tested bouncing bombs using a FW190

[@minhafamilianaamerica2305]

the pilot prob died right on that aircraft?

[@yahnmahn9035]

The VZ-1 Pawnee would be such an awesome civilian vehicle

[@sparkelstr2418]

*"With the Pawnee's becoming mainstream today we have only had 5 mini 9/11's, a first time low in 2 years!"*

[@yahnmahn9035]

@@sparkelstr2418 “The latest one was likely due to intoxication”

[@Bopbeeb0]

Imagine seeing these things. That would be nuts

[@David123321]

Love this channel

[@Scooternjng]

Barnes Wallis, the engineer who invented the bouncing bombs (and the Wellington bomber) was as much madman as he was an innovator.

[@sillerbarly4927]

Didn't he also make the bunker buster, basically a bomb that would essentially drill down to a depth then detonate

[@MikevomMars]

A casualty rate of 40%? Russians would say that's AWESOME 😁👍

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

The backspin did two important jobs, it stabilized it but that could work spinning forward so the main reason was propelling itself down the dam to greater depth for a greater concussion.

[@jonbutcher9805]

The defensive armaments of the Dams were such that no matter what was tried casualties were going to be suicidally high. But sometimes you have little choice in options. The option of doing nothing would result in far higher casualties in other aspects of the war. The Dambusters operation was an unbelievable jump in out of the box thinking, and was successful in it's ultimate goal. A one of a kind operation carried out by young men with balls of steel who had no illusions as to wether they would see another day. Barnes Wallis. The engineering genius responsible for this and other innovations including the Lancaster bomber and upgrades to carry out the attack is held in such high regard that he was immortalized in the movie adaptation of these attack's The Dambusters. Highly recommended for those interested in historically accurate accounts of warfare and the people involved.

[@YVO007]

Love your channel good stuff thank you....

[@viktoreidrien7110]

Drone warfare seems to be the future as well as information warfare, i guess

[@jfd9616]

I love starting my day off with a cup of coffee and Not What You Think :)

[@paulbrooks4395]

My favorite is the Thunderscreech, a plane so loud it made people sick and dizzy.

[@abnnuzzinicholasclay686]

One of the greatest weapons of my life has been gain of function research.

[@Mavve69]

Those battle sleds reminded me of when I tied sleds to a quad bike last Christmas

[@Mavve69]

@Talon-Potato it’s fun too

[@Mavve69]

@Talon-Potato I promise you won’t regret it :)

[@ajaykj3381]

Bouncing bomb was super

[@amazingduniyaBangla]

very impressive technology

[@warwarneverchanges4937]

The sled is not such a bad idea for the time shure it needed some fine tuning but its more of a feild sulution . Exellent in snow and perhaps crossing swampy areas, in a Urban area totally usless.

[@Doug_The_Head]

In winter 1942/1943 about 300 fully armoured sleds (with rooth & weapon ports) were produced in USSR utilizing light tank hulls.

[@MilitaryNews.Channel]

A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-determined, in a similar fashion to a regular naval depth charge.[Fn 1] The inventor of the first such bomb was the British engineer Barnes Wallis, whose "Upkeep" bouncing bomb was used in the RAF's Operation Chastise of May 1943 to bounce into German dams and explode under water, with effect similar to the underground detonation of the Grand Slam and Tallboy earthquake bombs, both of which he also invented.

[@nigeljohnson9820]

Almost right, the bomb was detonated by a hydro static pressure fuse, so it exploded at the correct depth, against the side of the dam.

[@Archimedes.5000]

Holy shit the sleds are actually great. Like sure they don't work in all terrains, but under right circumstances they seem they could be damn useful

[@JEBlancoMEd]

It took a marine to volunteer since all others aren’t trained to be nuts. As a marine I can tell you- we are the most brainwashed species of humans and I love my marine Corps. The USMC recruiting commercial says it all “the change is forever “. Semper Fi marine 17 years old 1982.

[@mr.tacoman5720]

my fav military channel:)

[@AscendantStoic]

The spinning explosive wheels look like something straight out of a cartoon, who thought those chaotic spinning wheels of doom and death are a reliable weapon!? XD

[@billmmckelvie5188]

The Soviets did use the sledges to put their troops into battle behind T34s that worked well in snow.

[@wormyboot]

The music made the sleds seem that much more silly.

[@wandern.schweiz]

If the tank breaks down in the middle of the battlefield, everyone stays there 🙂🙂🙂

[@新月龍]

the bouncing bomb seems so terrifying, I can't imagine the amount of fear if a soldier saw that thing coming right at him.

[@Clonefiles]

good job

[@lancerevell5979]

Competing against the Convair XFY Pogo was the somewhat more conventional looking Lockheed XFV Salmon. Both had serious teething problems, only one of each was built.

[@johnnywoods5549]

The VZ-1 looks interesting, not as a military craft but as a normal vehicle, I can see it as a hover bike.

[@mhh7544]

During my stay in Spain , I ran into a guy whos dad bombed the Norwegian damms with bouncing bomb .

[@joko2882]

10:29 that last thing is actually really similar to what we use to get the green onion stalk of off the plant before harvest.

[@65gtotrips]

I thought I’d seen pretty much everything, but I’d never seen those ‘battle sleds’ before

[@sludgefactory241]

The VZ1. When you absolutely must look like a super villain.

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

I actually like the sled idea! :)

[@russchadwell]

Starship, with its across the globe transport option, may bring back an era of "tail sitters"... Much, much faster tail sitters

[@bouse23]

Armoured vehicles tend to be bullet magnets so dismounted troops don't want to be too close to them

[@Yourdreamguy286]

If that hovercraft can maneuver like that In those days I feel we could have already had hoverbords or something lmaoo

[@masterimbecile]

A fellow ghost: “Wow something bad must have happened to you. Did you fall into a meat grinder?” Dead VZ1 Pawnee test pilot: “Well, it's not what you think...”

[@leon_andre12]

You make great videos to watch when eaing food

[@conormcmenemie5126]

The most important lesson from this is that it is worth while to create mission specific mechanisms for individual one-off tasks. The mine flail may have been designed exclusively for Normandy beaches, yet from there had far broader applications. The Matilda tank was never going to win on a race track, but was a great hill climber. The Mk1 tank of WW1 was designed for crossing trenches. The Ukrainian conflict might prove a valid venue for those torpedo sledges. There are in need for high speed amphibious vehicles which can cope with the lakes, rivers and reservoirs, as well as be able to slip between the dragons teeth Russian defences.

[@Bit-while_going]

The bouncing bomb was cool. They should bring that one back but just have it dropped from UAV instead of a manned airplane.

[@boomboxlamb8791]

This is unexpectedly hilarious

[@edreusser4741]

I have flown in a commercial version of the hovercraft mentioned here. Something to note is that this sucker was LOUD! Overwhelmingly obnoxiously, eardrum piercingly loud. And even with muffs, it still overwhelmed any attempt to talk oir communicate. I can't imagine how far away the enemy could hear the thing? 3 miles? 5 miles maybe? I jest but barely exaggerate. If you have ever been around a snowmobile that has been racing modified, it sounds about twice as loud as that but has the same basic sound.

[@NuubiTuubi1000]

I think the pigeon bombs deserved their place on the list.

[@stevetennispro]

IMO, that's a... crap shoot. ;)

[@confushiarch3421]

feels like the VC1 was the pre-cursor to drones so really it kinda played a big historical part all thing considered

[@nigeljohnson9820]

A version of the flail tank mine clearer, shown at the end of the video is still used today. As are explosive filled tubes, that are projected across mine fields by rockets. Once deployed the tubes are detonated to clear a path. An alternative is a foam jet, similar to that used to put out aircraft fires, but in this case the foam is filled with an oxyacetylene gas mixture, that can be detonated to provide a sufficient ground pressure to clear a mind field on which the foam is sprayed.

[@uarbor70]

Battle sled? You know whenever a tank commander comes around a corner and takes fire the first thing he's going to do is back up. Oops

[@michakasprzak6869]

I like the title so much xD Military Inventions That Were NUTS!

[@vasskolomiets41]

Bouncing bombs have actually been used as an alternative to torpedo planes for antishipping missions first time in the Pacific campaign by B-17s.

[@michalpavlat3943]

This attack method was used by smaller bombers in Pacific incl. fighter-bombers regurarily. B-17 weren't typical users for sure. It was quite popular in Soviet airforce too.

[@vasskolomiets41]

@@michalpavlat3943 they were the first, the B-17 of Macarthur's forces

[@csnyder23]

Dambusters which gave us Star Wars

[@broguns2420]

I think the torpedo net can still be used like if a ship had 4 retractable poles one in the front and back then one on the left and right on the bottom of the ship it could surround the ship giving a extra protection from torpedos before even touching the ship

[@marketgarden8910]

The battle sleda lpoks like a nice ride 😂

[@phantasma6406]

You’re telling me we had hover bikes almost 70 years ago

[@phantasma6406]

More like a hover unicycle I guess

[@scootermom1791]

2:34 A human drone! They should bring the Pawnee back and sell them for people to use recreationally. They look so fun to fly!

[@JohnJohansen2]

I certainly would have liked to see those generals running for their life's.

[@jkj9404]

The sleds were a great idea

[@concernedshrimp]

Battle slides are actually good idea, just lack of development.

[@Mr.Roboto_]

2:31 Dude, this during the early 1950s?! We could have had hoverboards by now.

[@Add_Infinitum]

I actually read about the wheel of death recently, just scrolling through Wikipedia while on the bus

[@Boccaccio-ii1fl]

An audio device can be added to the bouncing bomb, to scream "Ya-ba-da-ba-doooo" during the bouncing. This will add to the terrifying effect of the bomb, further frightening the enemies, who will believe the mighty Fred Flinstone himself is chasing them and will run away from the battlefield, screaming in terror !

[@Ngormanphotography]

I want that vz-1

[@janedoe-dy3rr]

And for some reason, we still don't have the hoverboards we were promised back in the 80's.

[@randomstories7609]

Yeah, ride my battle sled to the enemy's grenade launchers😂😂😂

[@marko-1987]

Was talking to my 94 year old neighbour here in UK and he worked as security on the beaches down south as they were testing a wheel that would fire and move. It never made it to the battle field but I seen it on another video while we were talking and he said I seen that haha.

[@timhensley1297]

The sled pulled by a tank was a good idea. They could have improved it a bit. I'd rather be pulled then walk 20 miles and be an easy target.

[@shawnfoogle920]

Battle sled seems pretty smart and a good idea ( maybe not now )

[@rexmcstiller4675]

instead of the bouncing bomb I would have build torpedos with hydro foils that they fly above the surface to the dams.

[@memelephant]

I think you meant "small arms fire" and not "small fire arms"

[@whytho4358]

Just start launchin flywheels at people lmao

[@cfjruth]

At 9:15 it should be REVOLUTIONS per minute, not rounds per minute, to describe the spin of the bouncing bomb. Wrong RPM!

[@NotWhatYouThink]

You’re correct 😊👍🏼

[@lewis7315]

See the ""dam busters" movie !!! Btw, the "flail tank" was successfully used to detonate mines in front of vechicle columns...!!! we know today that verticle takeoff aircraft are practicle ... just designed differently!! Those sleds needed padding>>

[@balochhibaloch]

Old is gold always

[@josephedlin2172]

Using a battle sled seems like going in to battle on a lazy boy 😂

[@ashleyel-khashab]

The cover photo is actually a good invention. Just not that particular version. The US Government made one that was a single file line with multiple sleds that worked amazingly well

[@danielporter3922]

What was that last invention spinning around the barrel of the tank turret?

[@WhyRagex]

Did u change the title or something?

[@MixiVideos1102]

[@DirtyHairy1]

Oh these dare devils of the time although the Pawnee looks like a feasible attaction in a roller coaster park, I would ride it

[@RaptorsParadise]

That vz1 is a flying duck waiting to be shot down by an enemy 😁😁