Gerald Bull

[[File:Gerald Bull 1964.jpg|right|165px|thumb|A photo of Bull taken in 1964.]]
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'''Gerald Vincent Bull''' {{lived|1928|1990}} was a [[Canadian]]-[[American]] aeronautics engineer known for building some of the largest guns ever known to man.<ref>[https://archive.is/nruk Gerald Bull, 62, Shot in Belgium; Scientist Who Violated Arms Law]. Archived from ''The New York Times'', 25 March 1990.</ref><ref name="bastards">{{cite web|url=https://player.fm/series/behind-the-bastards/the-man-who-built-a-gun-to-shoot-space|title=The Man Who Built A Gun To Shoot Space|last=Evans|first=Robert|date=January 20, 2022|publisher=Behind the Bastards}}</ref> Bull's goal was to revolutionize the space industry. However, that plan involved the sale of "thousands" of artillery shells to [[apartheid]] [[South Africa]] in violation of international embargoes. He served time in [[prison]],<ref name="light">{{cite web|url=https://bartonchronicle.com/exhibit-brings-gerald-bull-back-light/|title=Exhibit brings Gerald Bull back to light|last=Mounbar|first=Bethany|date=June 4, 2014|publisher=Barton Chronicle}}</ref> much to his surprise as he thought his buddies in the [[CIA]] would bail him out.<ref name="bastards"/> Bull built a "super gun" for [[Saddam Hussein]], apparently to jumpstart [[Iraq]]'s would be space program.<ref name="light"/> Ultimately, Bull was assassinated at his apartment in [[Belgium]] in 1990. Officially no one knows who did it, but [[Mossad|we probably all know who it was]].<ref name="light"/>

==Shooting space==
Bull was born to his father George and mother LaBrosse Bull, who died when Bull was only five years old. George had a nervous breakdown, so Gerald was raised by his older sister Bernice instead.<ref name="spaceguns">{{cws|https://medium.com/how-we-get-to-next/space-guns-fa2dda0561ec#.7qbnvd3uu|Space Guns: A History of the Least Subtle Way of Getting Into Space|Medium}}</ref> Despite this, Bull graduated high school at the age of 16 and got his doctorate in 1950 after successfully constructing a supersonic wind tunnel at the University of Toronto. Bull proceeded to work at the Canadian Armament and Research Development Establishment (CARDE) which, according to ''Space Guns'', was "researching supersonic flight and various rocket and missile projects at the time."<ref name="spaceguns"/>

Bull was known for "bypassing" budgetary restrictions by "using scrap parts and shuffling money around between different projects." Bull became interested in shooting missiles out of guns, and would use model airplanes to test his concepts. This was received negatively by Bull's superiors after he "embarrassed the Prime Minister of Canada by leaking a story to the newspapers that the country was working on plans to put high-velocity guns in the noses of missiles."<ref name="spaceguns"/>

Bull resigned in 1961.{{efn|In an argument over paperwork of all things.}} A post-resignation report noted that "...his tempestuous nature and strong dislike for administration and red tape constantly led him into trouble with senior management."<ref name="spaceguns"/>

Bull moved on to work at McGill University, where he attracted the attention of the American government. The US was interested in Bull's work, and so supplied him with a "16 inch naval cannon" for him to test. There was one problem though: Bull's "Highwater station wasn't big enough to support the massive gun." To get around this, Bull found a promising spot, a meteorological station, in Barbados. He worked out a deal with the Barbadian PM to secure permission to fire his big fuckoff cannon, and work proceeded shortly thereafter, with only minor hiccups along the way.<ref name="spaceguns"/>{{efn|Read: the {{wpl|Cuban Missile Crisis||.}}}}

Duncan Geere explains what happened next:

{{quotebox|On January 20, 1963, under a clear blue sky, the first shot was fired. A 694-pound [315-kilogram] wooden slug was propelled over 1.8 miles [3,000 meters] into the air, flying for 58 seconds before landing about a half mile [one kilometer] off-shore. It was a complete success, so two further scheduled test firings were abandoned, and preparations were made to fire real projectiles.<ref name="spaceguns"/>}}

The next day a Martlet-1 was fired "to an altitude of 16 miles [26 kilometers] with a flight time of 145 seconds."<ref name="spaceguns"/> They actually had to attach a radio beacon to this thing just to track it. The day after that, the next round traveled over a distance of 16.''8'' miles, or 27 kilometers.<ref name="spaceguns"/>

The tests revealed problems with the powder, however, which was quickly replaced. The new powder would enable a record altitude of over 57 miles (91 kilometers) for a "gun-launched projectile."<ref name="spaceguns"/>

This wasn't purely for the thrills, as ''Space Guns'' explains:
{{quotebox|The Martlet was equipped with electronics that released chemical markers at set altitudes, leaving a smoke trail through the sky that could be used to measure upper-level winds. Some used additional electronics to measure magnetic fields.<ref name="spaceguns"/>}}

Bull later wrote about this:
{{quotebox|The idea was to find out what happens in the atmosphere from sunset to sunrise. Remember, nobody gave us grants. We had to produce tropical atmospheric meteorological [data] for the army research office, that’s how we got our [[money]]. We were trying to measure everything to the top of the atmosphere, which we labeled as a nominal two hundred kilometers.<ref name="spaceguns"/>}}

This was all just a prelude to Bull's ''real'' dream however: building guns to launch shit into space.<ref name="spaceguns"/> After "extending the gun" and refining the powder to "be contained for a longer period of time and slowing the acceleration," Bull and his team clinched it. They fired a projectile to an altitude of "just short" of 112 miles, or 180 kilometers. This is a record that remains unbeaten to this day.<ref name="spaceguns"/>

However, opposition to Bull's work was growing. The US government lost permission to continue the tests, and the Canadian government cut funding.<ref name="spaceguns"/> 

Bull did have an ace up his sleeve though, as ''Space Guns'' explains:

{{quotebox|A clause in his contract required McGill to return the test sites to their original condition at the end of the lease, and his Highwater station had grown into a major scientific facility. Returning it to its original condition of a scrubby piece of land down a dirt road would have cost the university millions of dollars.<ref name="spaceguns"/>}}

Bull proposed that McGill transfer the facilities over to his ownership, and the university agreed.<ref name="spaceguns"/> However, Bull needed funding. By the 1970s, astronautics programs had moved on from gun-launched projectiles to rocketry. Bull did what any weapons engineer would do when they lacked state or significant private backing: arms dealing.<ref name="spaceguns"/>

==Arms dealing==
Bull formed the "Space Research Corporation of Quebec" to fund his ballsy project to shoot space. He made deals with the Canadian and American [[military-industrial complex]]es to "develop artillery systems," and sold arms to South Africa, [[Israel]], and the US for the better part of a decade.<ref name="spaceguns"/> However, because of a growing international embargo against South Africa, Bull was arrested for his arms dealing and sentenced to prison when he just expected to pay a fine.<ref name="spaceguns"/> Bull would continue to sell weapons to South Africa even after being released.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160317-the-man-who-tried-to-make-a-supergun-for-saddam-hussein|title=The tragic tale of Saddam Hussein's 'supergun'|last=Park|first=William|date=March 17, 2016|publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref>

Fed up with governmental interference in his arms trafficking scheme, Bull moved to [[Belgium]] where he continued selling arms without governmental scrutiny.<ref name="bbc"/> He made deals with both [[China]] and Iraq.<ref name="spaceguns"/>

==Saddam's supergun==
Beginning in 1985, Saddam's Iraq bought hundreds of artillery shells from Bull.<ref name="manbehind">[https://archive.is/V5NR "The Man Behind Iraq's Supergun"] - ''The New York Times''.</ref> Bull also began work on improving Iraq's general artillery program. To quote ''[[The New York Times]]'':

{{quotebox|Having proved themselves in the [[Iran-Iraq War]], the guns now pose a serious threat to the multinational task force based in [[Saudi Arabia]]. In addition, Bull designed for Iraq two mammoth guns mounted on wheeled vehicles that were unveiled at the Baghdad Arms Fair last year [1989].<ref name="manbehind"/>}}

After working on Iraq's artillery program, he managed to convince Saddam that Iraq would "never be a real military power without the capability for space launches."<ref name="spaceguns"/> Bull offered to share his expertise from his time shooting shit into space, and Saddam agreed.<ref name="spaceguns"/>

Bull's so-called "supergun" would've been the ''magnum opus'' of both his career and Iraq's artillery fleet.<ref name="manbehind"/>

Two weeks after Bull's assassination, British agents seized "eight huge steel tubes" designed to fit into a 60 meter long gun barrel. These tubes were part of the so-called "Operation Babylon," which involved millions of dollars and illicit Iraqi operations to fund and construct this [[Fun:Weapon of gun|gigantic abomination of weapons engineering]].<ref name="manbehind"/>

The gun itself would've fired satellites from a "156-meter long barrel" embedded into a hillside.<ref name="bbc"/>

According to ''Space Guns'', the gun design would've been "512 feet [156 meters] long, weighed 4.6 million pounds [2,100 tonnes], and had a 3.3-foot [one-meter] diameter. It was designed to be capable of placing a 4,410-pound [2,000-kilogram] projectile into orbit."<ref name="spaceguns"/> 

The Iraqis saw how desperate Bull was to build this [[Penis enlargement|giant compensation device]], and added an extra condition to the deal. In exchange for building this big fuckoff cannon, Bull would improve Iraq's long-range Scuds missile program.<ref name="spaceguns"/>{{efn|This is what likely got Bull assassinated.<ref name="bastards"/>}}

==Assassination==
After several non-robbery break-ins into his apartment, Bull was ultimately assassinated [[Irony|with a silenced gun]] on March 22, 1990 at his Belgian apartment.<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1402756337 "Who killed Gerald Bull?"] by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation</ref> This assassination had all the hallmarks of a professional hit: no one heard the gunshots, no one heard the body slump to the floor, no one saw the hitman, and over twenty thousand dollars were left untouched in Bull's apartment.<ref name="manbehind"/>{{efn|Likely intentionally to signal this was a hit and not a robbery.}}

Unfortunately, over his career Bull effectively pissed off pretty much everyone (CIA, [[MI6]], [[Chile]]an, [[Syria]]n, Iraqi, or South African governments) with the capacities to pull off this kind of hit.<ref name="bastards"/> For example, because he was building 
the biggest dick ever known
 his supergun in Britain,<ref name="manbehind"/> it could've been the Brits for all we know.<ref name="bastards"/> Still, the best bets are probably on Mossad<ref name="light"/> due to Bull's cooperation with [[Ba'athist]] Iraq.

==Notes==
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==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Gerald}}
[[Category:Canadians]]
[[Category:Convicted felons]]

Categories: Canadians, Convicted felons