Scientists at Rolls Royce built a gun specifically to launch dead chickens at the windshields of airliners and military jets all travelling at maximum velocity. The idea was to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the windshields.

American 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 American 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 back-rest in two and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin like an arrow shot from a bow.

The horrified Yanks sent Rolls Royce the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield and begged for suggestions.

You’re going to love this……

Rolls Royce responded with the following one-line memo:

“Defrost the chicken.”

Happy (en)trails…

From a friend: ‘Despite http://www.snopes.com/science/cannon.htm I can assure you that it was a true story, with the facts being altered to make it more interesting.

A little like the Irish inventor who developed the world’s first dishwasher. It was a brilliant piece of work, but he never sold any. It was only after the patent lapsed that a Japanese fella made his millions by removing the tumble-dry cycle.’