Chickens were recruited for cold war
A secret British Cold War plan to fill a vast nuclear landmine with chickens to regulate its temperature emerged today for the first time.
The Army planned to detonate the seven-tonne device on the German plains in the event of a retreat from invading Soviet forces.
The idea was that the plutonium landmine would cause mass destruction and contamination over a wide area to prevent subsequent enemy occupation.
Details of the top secret operation Blue Peacock emerged at the "Secret State" exhibition at the National Archives in Kew, south west London, which is set to open on Friday.
Scientists working on the project realised that the bomb could fail in winter if vital components became too cold, so they explored ways of keeping the inner workings warm.
One proposal, put forward in a 1957 document on show in the exhibition, consisted of filling the casing of the device with live chickens, who would give off sufficient heat prior to suffocating or starving to death to keep the delicate explosive mechanism from freezing.
A spokesman for the National Archives said: "As it turns out, chickens aren't as chicken as we thought. They knew all about the foul play and were hatching a plan to save Britain all along."
