The M-29 Davy Crockett

When something is named for Davy Crockett it usually means it mindblowingly awesome. Developed during the Cold War, the birthplace for other doomsday devices, the Davy Crockett was a mass produced artillery weapon that fired nukes. As in it hurled Nuclear devices at commies.

Don't let the toy like warhead fool you it could level a city.

These things went as far as to mass produced before England chimed in about how terrifyingly bad of an idea that was. Now all the Davy Crocketts they do is collect dust in museums around the globe. I personally got a chance to see one and it looks no less silly in really life.

Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli: Super Villains of the 1500's

One was the artist/inventor/scientist/all-around genius who painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper as well as perhaps the greatest creative minds in history. The other was the writer/philosopher/evil mastermind who helped invent modern political science. And together they tried steal a river. No this isn't the setup for some dated sitcom this actually happened. Well almost. Machiavelli hired Da Vinci to use his genius to steal a the Arno river from Florentine rival, Pisa.

The river that got away.

Da Vinci would have irrigated the entire Arno River Valley with canals, locks and dams, rerouting all the water directly to Florence and hanging Pisa out to dry. Literally. Sadly, the plan was too amazing for 16th century technology.The channels dug to divert the river were far too shallow. As they were trying to make the channels deeper, a storm destroyed its walls, killing some of the workers and inciting others to get out of the henchmen racket. This failure stayed with Da Vinci his entire life and even made it into the background of the most famous painting in the world.

The Most Unlikely Trio in the History of Ever

One did the makeup effects on the film Planet of the Apes, the other a comic book artist who co-created the X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and The Fantastic Four and they team up with the CIA to save the day.


No this isn't some movie this is real life. In 1979, radical supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini attacked the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took everyone hostage except six employees who managed to escape and find refuge in a Canadian ambassador's home. However, these six refugees were stuck in hostile territory with no one to help them. CIA technical operations officer Anthony Mendez came up with one of the most elaborate and quite frankly ridiculous ideas possible.

"OK I got this crazy idea but promise you'll listen to the whole thing."
- What I imagine Anthony Mendez must have said at some point

This is where Hollywood makeup artist John Chambers and comic book artist/illustrator Jack Kirby. Mendez took one look at the both of them and said, "Yes, this is exactly the team I need." He called the operation "The Canadian Caper." I honestly wish I was joking.

Mendez entered Tehran claiming to be an Irish film producer there to scout the location for his very fake sci-fi epic, Argo. Chambers and Mendez created a fictional production company called Studio Six Productions. They named it that in part to honor the six people they intended to save, and in part (I imagine) because Mendez wanted to make Iran feel extra stupid once they figured out what had happened.They came up with a fake movie script and had Jack Kirby create fake concept art.

Kirby even went as far as to design an entire theme park to go along with the movie dubbed Science Fiction Land that contained magnetically levitated elevators, a control room staffed by robots and a dome that was twice as tall as the Empire State Building. It was almost as if everyone involved in the Canadian Caper had a hard time weighing the idea of being caught with making something as crazy as possible.

I wish I could make this up.

Mendez entered Iran while his "supplies" were sent via diplomatic pouch to the Canadian embassy. The pouch contained the Canadian passports, costumes, Kirby's art and filming equipment that would let them pretend they were doing a real movie.Mendez met with the refugees and explained the cover story, assigned them new identities and roles in the production of the movie. To this the most likely replied, "No. That's stupid. Send the real CIA."

"Oh come on! Is that on a napkin?"

Eventually the refugees got into their disguises whicht included unbuttoned shirts and silver medallions. And it worked. Their fake documentation and cover story allowed them all the freedom to walk around Tehran without any problems before they eventually boarded a plane . It was definitely the only time in history where a plan that was in all actuality "So crazy it might work" was successful.

I Promise It's in the name of Science

The High Explosives Applications Facility, possibly the most entertaining place to work in the world, really wanted to show off how precisely they could control their new metal-melting laser. Instead of shooting an apple off their least-favorite employee's head, they decided to demonstrate the laser's precision by cutting through the shell of a Stinger missile. The type of Stinger missile that blows up. And No they didn't take the explosive bits out first. Where's the fun in that?

Pretty ain't it?

The Frankenstein of WWII

Before America entered the Second World War, Tony Stein was a a Golden Gloves Boxer and a Navy Reservist. So he was kind of hardcore to begin with, and then a good ol' man-makin' war came around, and it was like tempering steel in Grizzly blood. At some point during Stein's conquest of the Pacific islands, he discovered a downed Douglas Dauntless Dive-Bomber (proving alliteration is always fun, even in the face of genocide!) with its tail gun still intact. Stein took the gun, added the stock from an M1 Garand, the bi pod and sights from a standard machine gun, and a box to hold the chains of .30 caliber bullets.

The monster in question

This was a gun designed to be mounted on a plane in order to kill other planes. And somewhere along the line Stein figured that was as good a thing as any to heave up on his shoulder and go Nazi hunting. The Stinger had a Rate of Fire of  near 1,500 rounds a minute, which is well within Mini-Gun territory. To put that into perspective, here's a video clip of a gun with a rate of fire of 1,200/minute. It'll be around the 2:50 mark.

When the US launched its assault on Iwo Jima in February 1945, Stein was there with his improvised gun of doom. The power of the bullets tore fortified emplacements apart and suppressed the enemy combatants enough to allow demolition charges to be hurled in to finish the job. The Axis was probably grateful to see that charge after a few minutes of having all the air around them replaced by bullets.