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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 29, 2006 15:03:55 GMT 12
This is the intriguing story of a man called Victor Penny, which I discovered by chance whilst looking through microfilm of the NZ Observer. What a tale this is, full of spies, intrigue, mysterious inventions. I reckon it'd make a great film, but no-one would believe it. I have tried to find out more about Penny, what became of him after this 25th of November 1937 article. Did he contribute to our war effort? There's nothing on the web except a brief mention on the Govt's official Soames Island site. Has an incredible story been covered up? Or was he an imposter?    |
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Post by Bruce on Nov 29, 2006 21:15:05 GMT 12
hmmm curious.... I would say that if indeed Mr penny had discovered some form of "Death ray" it would most likely be a form of Microwave Radiation, but of course in the 1930s this was all new stuff. certainly would make a ripping yarn - Id love to see a movie! (an idea for your new production company Dave?)
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 29, 2006 21:23:47 GMT 12
Yes, the thought crossed my mind. Either a dramatic film or doco. It's a really great tale. I wonder what became of him, and where all his notes and stuff ended up.
Could a microwave actually light a box of matches or set off an explosive? I had wondered perhaps he'd stumbled on a lazer technology?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 8, 2008 13:13:01 GMT 12
Dragging this old thread up again, a few weeks ago there was something on TV, ,ight have been 20/20 or 60 Minutes, about a ray gun developed in the USA which actually works as a massive deterrent. If it's pointed at you and turned on, you heat up to an uncomfortable level and have to turn and run. The makers have tested it on thousands of people all with the same result and found in 3000 or so tests only two burns have occurred so it's pretty safe. They want to get it into military use for places like Iraq so when someone confronts a vehicle they can ray them, and they go away fine, rather than shoot them dead and ask questions later. But due to the Pentagon's warped ideals, because it's non-leathal they won't fund it!!
it would be great for prison riots and such too.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 3, 2009 18:15:46 GMT 12
I recently found another article relating to a New Zealander inventing a death ray in the 1930's! This one was conning the Chinese rather than our Government. from the Waikato Times, 1st of September 1938.  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 3, 2009 18:23:39 GMT 12
Hmm, according to the NZ Edge website, NZ'er John Pomeroy invented the tracer bullet. So that must be what this is all about? (scroll down to famous Invercargillites) nzedge.com/mailbox/14_august00.html |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 5, 2009 17:45:16 GMT 12
Very interesting article, thanks Shane. We need to buy some of his pneumatic knee guards for the Black Caps!
It is a shame that he is considered important enough to get into the Austrailian Dictionary of Biography but not in his own country's New Zealand Dictionary of Biography, and he's virtually unheard of here in NZ.
It's also interesting that the newspaper, or more so their informant who travelled to China with Pomeroy, was under the impression he'd invented a 'death ray' when it was just a type of explosive tracer.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Jan 6, 2009 9:55:04 GMT 12
Interesting thread. In the panic of early 1940, a group of British scientists were scrambling to discover a weapon apparently announced by Hitler during one of his speeches that could make people deaf and blind. After thousands of pounds had been spent and the resources of the scientists diverted from other projects, a translation expert came forward. It was then that the embarassing error was noted. Hitler had actually said he would strike his enemies deaf and dumb with fear. Nothing was actually mentioned about a weapon at all.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 1, 2012 0:04:55 GMT 12
I am dredging up this intriguing old thread because I have found an interesting series of articles on Papers Past regarding kiwi John Pomeroy, as mentioned above, and the shooting down of the first Zeppelin.
Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 114, 16 May 1931, Page 9
LED TO FORTUNE.
STRANGE APPARITION
New Zealander's Bullet Brought Down First Zepp.
CLERGYMAN SEES HIS GHOST.
(United P.A.-Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, May 15.
How an apparition resulted in a New Zealander receiving £25,000 as the result of the destruction of the first Zeppelin in the war was narrated by Major C. C. Colley, son of the noted spiritualist, the late Archdeacon Colley, to the Survival League at Caxton Hall.
A New Zealand farmer named John Pomeroy, having invented an explosive bullet, sold his farm and went to England with his family. The War Office, however, rejected the invention and Pomeroy went back to New Zealand. He later returned to England confident of success.
Archdeacon Colley saw l tweedjacketed, white-trousered ghost in his office, arid told his secretary to seek such a man. Pomeroy was brought in. Archdeacon Colley was spiritually convinced that he was trustworthy, and persuaded Captain Robinson, V.C., the famous airman who shot down the Zeppelin over Essex, to take up a round of Pomeroy's bullets. The result was the destruction of the Zeppelin and Pomeroy's receipt of the £25,000 reward.
A personal friend of John Pomeroy informed a "Star" representative this forenoon that to his knowledge Pomeroy was never connected with farming. He is the son of an Invercargill fishmonger, and worked with his father as a member of the crew of a fishing vessel. Pomeroy, who had a strong flair for conspicuous dress, had also a bent for invention, and patented a number of his devices with varying success, one being a spiral hat fastener.
Prior to the war Pomeroy went to Melbourne, where he continued his career of invention, and after the outbreak of hostilities he took to England and submitted to various authorities, an explosive, inflammatory bullet, with the result indicated in the cable. So far as the "Star's" informant knew, Pomeroy had not returned to New Zealand, but was now resident in Melbourne.
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Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 117, 20 May 1931, Page 9
CHEQUERED CAREER
POMEROY OF BULLET FAME
NOW SELLING "'HOT DOGS"
MELBOURNE, 19th May.
Mr. John Pomeroy, a New Zealander who invented the now famous "Pomeroy" bullet which brought down German Zeppelins during the "war, is now selling "hot dogs" to home-going theatre folk outside St. Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. When interviewed, he furnished ample proof of his identity. He possesses a photograph of the Admiralty's cheque he received, and still treasures a War Office certificate of-admittance to Industrial House, London.
He declares that £11,000 was spent in experiments, and a further large sum in litigation when trying to secure an award of £25,000. He lost the balance in investments.
He is now perfecting a method of freezing citrus juice in such a manner as will retain its flavour. Also he is experimenting in other directions, while at night he sells hot dogs. Originally he was a farmer in Invercargill.
The first Zeppelin was brought down over London by Captain Robinson, V.C., with Pomeroy's bullets and the inventor was awarded £25,000. Mr. Pomeroy's father was an Invefcargill fish dealer. Tests of his bullet were made in Invercargill before the outbreak of the Great War, and its highly destructive effects on the trunks of trees convinced him of its value as an instrument of attack in the event of hostilities.
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Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 120, 23 May 1931, Page 8
POMEROY'S BULLET.
As I sat by the fire and read my mind went back over the years to a night which will surely live in the minds and hearts of all who recall Pomeroy's bullet. On a Saturday night we stood in the street watching this silver streak across the sky—a Zeppelin—and wondered what new tragedy would fall from this death-dealing silver thing. Would it pass over London, leaving us safe for yet another night, or would its horror fall at our feet?
Robinson was up —but what would happen? The watchers stood silent till suddenly this silver thing was turned in a moment —in the twinkling of an eye —to a mass of flame. Then, and only then, did we rush for our doorways and the safety of cellars, able only to believe this flame was some new atrocity the Hun had prepared to deal death in liquid fire over our city.
Breathless we waited till out of the silence arose from London's millions a great shouted "Hurrah." Prince and poorman, beggarman, thief, joined in that great roaring "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" Every tongue seemed to give forth its triumph as the monster fell, a mass of destroying flame, victim of Pomeroy's bullet.
Hours then of excited talk and conjecture till morning came with surely one of the strangest expeditions ever witnessed, in which it also seemed all London joined, to a little out-lying farm—yesterday lying quiet and unknown—to-day famed and headlined as the spot on which the Zeppelin had fallen.
There in a field it lay, this mass of ruin, the charred bodies of its crew lying side by side in a row nearby—the first Zeppelin brought down guarded now by soldiers from the unscrupulous hunter of souvenirs, for, quick as the guard had been to reach the spot, the hunter had been there and many valuables were missing, never to be traced.
Yet we got our souvenirs, handed to us by the guarding soldiers, and to-night, 12,000 miles and years away, I sit by my fire with a charred and "twisted fragment in my hands. It tells the story not only of Pomeroy's bullet but of Robinson's sure finding of his mark, and leaves me wondering how many to-night in New Zealand, reading of Pomeroy's "hot dogs," hear again the shoutin"- of London's millions in victory. —E.C.H.
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Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 122, 26 May 1931, Page 6
POMEROY'S BULLET.
In Saturday's issue of your paper under the heading "Pomeroy's Bullet" "E.C.H." makes quite a few erroneous statements. It is highly desirable to quote history with exactitude, especially as America lays claim to almost every record in and after the war.
The first Zeppelin to be brought down during the World War was a feat performed by Flight-Lieutenant R. A. J. Warneford, V.C., L. de Hon., on June 7, 1915. Whilst patrolling between Ghent and Bruges in a Morane Parasal, Warneford made contact with a Zeppelin at 6000 feet. He dropped six hand grenades at close range on to the Zeppelin, the airship caught lire and exploded.
The explosion was so violent that Warneford temporarily lost control of his machine and stalled his engine. This caused him to land in enemy territory, but he at once restarted his engine and flew back to his base. H.M. the King awarded him the V.C., which honour he was not destined to hold very long, being killed ten days later at Bue aerodrome, near Paris.
Fifteen months later, on Sunday (not Saturday), September 3, 1916, Captain H. Leefe Robinson, of 39th Home Defence Squadron, was one who went up in a Bleriot Experimental 2C to attack the largest fleet of airships that ever flew over London —fourteen Zeppelins. He first of all unsuccessfully attacked one and then came up with a Schutte Lanz, number SL 11. He placed several machine gun bursts into it and set the Zeppelin on fire. (At this time Pomeroy's bullets were loaded in the machine gun magazine, one to every seven.) The Zeppelin, a blazing furnace, landed in fragments at Cuffley, Herts.
Both these gallant men were born in India, both had similar experiences. Robinson later on, on April 5, 1917, whilst he was flying a Bristol Fighter in France, flew into a shell, which knocked the engine clean out, and he landed in enemy territory and was made a prisoner. On December 14, 1918, he was repatriated and died from emaciation in England on December 31, 1918 —W J WARNEFORD (late Captain, E.F.C.)
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Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 123, 27 May 1931, Page 8
THE EXPLOSIVE BULLET.
N.Z. INVENTOR'S EXPERIENCES
MORE ABOUT THE "GHOST" STORY.
JOHN POMEROY INTERVIEWED.
Mr. John Pomeroy, the Invcrcargill man who received £25,000 reward for his invention of explosive ammunition during the war, and is to-day selling pies and coffee from a stall in Melbourne, told the "Melbourne Herald" that he lost his money in further experiments and in investments in the United States.
He received £20,000 from the Ministry of Munitions for his patents for explosive ammunition, £5000 for his personal services, and £1000 from the Admiralty for a device for exploding enemy mines submerged in the sea.
Mr. Pomeroy says he has no regrets in having spent his fortune. His job, he says, is an honest trade, and enables him to continue his experiments in a small factory in City Road, South Melbourne. There he is evolving instruments of peaceful, industrial and domestic value. One has for its objective the freezing of citrus fruit juice so that it will not lose its taste and virtues; another is a mixture of stone and metal for setting razors, and a third an' alloy for cleaning silver-plated ware.
His White Trousers.
The manner in which his name came into prominence in London recently he considers not quite within the realm of pure physics or chemistry or mathematics. It is true, he admits, that he did wear white trousers and a tweed coat. Major Colley was always cracking some joke about it.
He rather suspects from the cable accounts that the major is pulling someone's leg about it now. "No spook was needed to tell the War Ollice at that stage about the explosive ammunition," he says. "There was already a big file about it in the War Office, with the records of many official tests in England and still earlier in New Zealand, dating back to 1902."
He produced ample proof of his own identity. He still has the War Office certificate of admission to Industrial House, and seven parchments by which he assigned his patents to the Crown, one being signed by Mr. Lloyd George, one by Mr. Bonar Law and five by Viscount Milner. "And if further proof is needed, he has a photograph of the £20,000 cheque.
Fight the Navy.
He conceived the idea of the explosive bullet in 1902 upon seeing in a New Zealand paper the picture of a German airship built by Count Zeppelin. It struck him that if they ever were made invulnerable, they would spell the end of the supremacy of the British navy. The formula of the ammunition cannot be published even now, but it can be said that its principle is based on the centrifugal force within a spinning bullet. By this means the chemical ingredients in the lead casing are thrown apart, to become highly explosive on contact.
The first experiment in firing thern demonstrated that they burst into thousands of fragments upon striking sheets of paper or sheepskins. Then they were fired at dogs and animals. Later, under War Office supervision, they were tried on small balloons and miniature airships.
It was necessary to penetrate a blanketing of carbon monoxide with which the Germans protected the hydrogen in the Zeppelin, believing that this made them invulnerable from explosion. Pomeroy's invention exploded them in one shot, and when supplied to our airmen brought down every Zeppelin at which they were fired, except those in one raid. On that occasion they flew abnormally high and got away under cover of clouds.
How It Was Spent.
Mr. Pomeroy declares that £11,000 of his first reward was spent in the experiments by which he evolved a later and greater invention, but for which he received no reward. He spent a further sum in unsuccessful litigation, and, after the war, went to the United States, where he lost the balance in investments, the greater part of these losses were in shares in a cotton-picking machine. The machine was good in principle, he says, but the negroes of the south proved it ineffective because it could not be given the intelligence not to cut the plant where the cotton was thin, and to cut more heavily where it was thick. As one negro remarked: "Dat machine don't discriminate.'
To-day Mr. Pomeroy has no illusions about officialism. It took him 12 years to persuade the War Office to look ai his invention; and another 15 months to persuade them to use it. "Departmentalism," he says, "kills invention.'
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Post by nuuumannn on Feb 4, 2022 12:44:06 GMT 12
Just to add to this, John Pomeroy's story is certainly of interest, but he didn't invent the explosive bullet, although he worked on the idea before the war. He tried interesting the British during a visit by the ship HMS Encounter to Auckland in 1908, but typically, the navy representatives showed no interest. The Brock incendiary went into service before Pomeroy's being accepted by the RFC in early 1916 after development beginning later than the Pomeroy weapon in 1915. Pomeroy presented his invention to the Minister of Munitions David Lloyd George in early 1916 and from that, he received an order to manufacture them, allegedly the first 5,000 were hand made by his wife in the top floor of the Home Defence HQ in London.
Just to add, the Germans didn't have a layer of carbon monoxide to prevent the hydrogen from exploding, this was a myth but was widely accepted in Britain based on the apparent difficulty in shooting Zeppelins down since during most interceptions, the pilots pumped whole magazines into the gas cells and nothing happened. This can be explained by the fact that all firing at big gas cells does is make holes in them, which emptied them of their contents. They still required an ignition source.
When de-Bathe Brandon shot at L 33, he emptied a drum of .303s into the airship but nothing happened, and his gun jammed before he could finish the job off, although he did use both Brock and Pomeroy ammunition. He had damaged a fuel tank and even with fuel pouring into the airship's hull, remarkably the gas cells that had been hit, emptying themselves of hydrogen still refused to ignite, which was extremely lucky for the German crew as L 33's sister ship L 32 was shot down in flames the same night and L 33's crew witnessed it descending to the ground in flame. Quite a sight that could be seen for miles around, apparently...
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