Chicken Little's Fears Realized

It almost sounds like a sick joke: How many uses can you find for a dead chicken?

Researchers at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee have come up with a new one. They load them into a 20-foot cannon and fire them at aircraft canopies at 700 miles per hour.

There are many instances on record of crashes that have resulted from large birds smashing through the canopies of jet aircraft and disabling the pilot.

Because the tactics of modern warfare are increasingly calling for high-speed, low-level attack missions, the Air Force is taking a serious look at the chicken cannon tests in order to design their canopies to withstand such impacts.