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.
French 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 French engineers. When the gun was
fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurled out of the barrel, crashed into
the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console,
snapped the engineer's back-rest in two and embedded itself in the in the back wall of the
cabin like an arrow shot from a bow.
The horrified Frenchmen sent NASA the disastrous results of the experiment along with the
designs of the windshield and begged the US scientists for suggestions.
