undercover agent films like those starringJames Bondare full of special gadgets like lipstick gun , hubcap lasers , turbo ground-effect machine , nitrile cigarettes , missile launcherleg cast and skyrocket - launchingradios . But which of these amazing tools actually have genuine - spirit counterparts , and which ones only live in the realm of fictional spies like 007 ? You might be surprised . In this article , we ’ll check out the gadgets that James Bond has used and learn more about the tools that real cloak-and-dagger agents have used to pile up info , eliminate competition and avoid detection .
Q Branch
In the James Bond films ( and to a lesser extent , Ian Fleming ’s trammel novels ) , Agent 007 welcome all of his arms and equipment , including various gadgetry and vehicles , from Q Branch . Q Branch is the inquiry and development branch of MI6 , the semi - fictional British espionage delegacy that utilize Bond . Q stand for " quartermaster , " and the head of the department uses codename Q , though the original Q ’s literal name was Major Boothroyd . For many years , Q was played by Desmond Llewelyn in the Bond films . When Llewelyn died in 1999 , Q ’s former assistant , gas constant , acquire a promotion .
In nearly all the moving picture , an early scene evidence bond paper meeting with Q to review the subroutine for using the latest good deal of weaponized gadgets . Depending on the film in question , these gadget could be very flaky , involvinglasers , Eruca vesicaria sativa , robotic drone and highly improbable fomite . The Fleming novels stick with a more naturalistic imaginativeness of global espionage . Q has some brief appearances , and his subroutine is generally to provide Bond with the appropriate firearm for a given foreign mission . contrivance are rarefied .
finally , the convenience became a formulaic plot element in the film . They fulfill the literary plot machine known as " Chekhov ’s Gun . " An item , character or location is introduced early in the story , and then largely leave about . subsequently in the story , often during a climactic scene , that item will be the exact thing call for to kill the villain or carry through the foreign mission . The terminology is attributed to Russian source and dramatist Anton Chekhov , who reportedly wrote of scene set in a frolic , " Do n’t put a rifle on the wall unless it ’s go to go off . " A everlasting example in the Bond films is " Wet Nellie , " a amply submersibleLotus Espritsports cable car offer by Q in " The Spy Who Loved Me . " Later , Bond must use its submersed capabilities to infiltrate the villain ’s aquatic headquarters . A likewise crucial machine appears in nearly every film .
Some other classic bail bond gadgets ( and the films in which they seem ):
Bond Vehicles: Tools of the Trade
Not all of Bond ’s contraption are small enough to hide in a pack of cigaret . Wherever Bond go , he goes in mode , usually in a flashy high - performance car loaded with options generally not offer at your local luxury car dealer . lamentable but genuine , retractablemachine gunsand rocket aid speedup do n’t come received .
In the first few Alexander Fleming novel , bond certificate drives a very unspectacularBentleyconvertible with a revolving door in the boxing glove compartment . This was Bond ’s personal vehicle , not something supplied by Q. He was later given an Aston Martin DB III with changeable tail and headlight colors .
The signature Bond fomite in the early years was a heavily modified Aston Martin DB5 . The car was a undercover agent ’s dream come reliable , with all the tricks and gadgets that a unavowed agent would never provide home without . Hidden machine guns and a hydraulic battering ram made the front closing potentially deadly , while hub - mount blades cut down thetiresof anyone aboard . Bulletproof glassand steel armor metal plating furnish shelter , while a smokescreen projector and tyre spikes could be expel to deter following from the rear . On - board radar , communications systems and a hidden cache of personal artillery meant the Aston Martin ’s manipulator was never out of touch or defenseless . In the bad - case scenario , an ejector prat could charge the driver to safety equipment . The car first seem in " Goldfinger . "
Later upgrade gave Bond access to more powerful and modern Aston Martins , include a V8 in " The Living Daylights " and a V12 in " kick the bucket Another Day . " The V8 feature an arming upgrade , with front launchingmissilesreplacing the auto guns . The 2006 film " Casino Royale " boast an Aston Martin DBS .
In the later ' 70 and early ' 80s , MI6 apparently sign a flock with Lotus , as Bond was supplied with several modified Lotus example , include the aforementioned " Wet Nellie , " a Lotus Esprit S1 . Another Q - ified Lotus ( an Esprit Turbo ) designate up in " For Your Eyes Only , " though Q had to replace it after the automatic security organisation get it to bumble up .
In more late films , Bond switched to BMW . The 750iL sedan used in " Tomorrow Never Dies " had classic feature article like a smokescreen , bulletproof panels and spike deployment for tear up opposition tires . It also boasted a sunroof - mount projectile rack , self - waterproofing and inflating tire and a air pocket - sized mastery equipment that provide 007 to drive the vehicle when he was n’t even in it . He also had access to a Z8 convertible that could launch optical maser - channelize Stinger missile . Not only could it be controlled remotely , it could settle and aim to Bond by itself . Of course , it was cut in half while in natural action .
Bond ’s risky venture have not always been establish – he has had to take to the water and the gentle wind on several occasions . A Venetian canal gondola that hid a powerfulhovercraftmade for a perfect undercover cognitive operation , while the Q Boat was one of Q ’s most impressive creations . Jet - powered and armed to the gills , the craft could skim across shallow body of water and even dive beneath the surface . attachment blew it up .
For airborne escapades , Bond has flown " Little Nellie , " an autogyro with skyrocket and missiles that could be folded down into four suitcase . The Acrostar was a similarly miniaturise jet plane with utmost manoeuvrability . James Bond once even fly on aspace shuttlecalled the " Moonraker , " though he needed someone else to fly it .
What Would James Bond Do?: Real-life Spy Gadgets
While some of the equipment dreamt up by Q is clearly fabricated , there are some parallels betweenJames Bondgadgetry and true - life spy equipment . The central difference between 007 and a literal - life secret factor is in their overall approach to their mission . spy in the real world are primarily focused on stealth and gathering information . More seldom , they are used as assassins , but even then they use blind to restfully fulfill their mortal mission . So anything James Bond uses that fire missiles , practice loony toons , has concealedmachine guns , launches with great speed or just explodes is unconvincing to have a similitude in real life .
The blinding exception is hisgun . The Walther PPK is , in fact , heavily favor by covert operative even today . in the beginning designed for use by plainclothes East German police , Fleming replaced Bond ’s small - quality Beretta with the Walther and a Smith & Wesson .38 at the request of Geoffrey Boothroyd . Boothroyd was a gas pedal expert and Bond fan who write to Fleming in 1956 to advocate the use of more appropriate weapons . Sir Alexander Fleming finally honour Boothroyd by nominate the character Q after him .
True - animation secret agents usually favor humble - calibre handguns because they are easy to conceal . However , in berth where greater firepower , kitchen range or accuracy is needed , extra rifles or machine guns can be made to fold down or disassemble into smaller constituent that are well-situated to hide out . During World War II , the British Sten submachine gunman was provided to Gallic impedance operatives and other Allied spies – it could be crack into three pieces for hiding . Guns can also be equipped withsilencers , metal cylinder that baffle the speedy expansion of gases and greatly reduce the sound a gunman micturate when it fires . Another form of silent weapon is the crossbow . These weapons get rid of the need to smuggle bullets and do n’t produce a gun muzzle heartbeat when fired .
Spieshave used very chemical bond - ilk concealed , unmarried - shot weapon system disguised as common objects . A tiny pistol that can agree into a belt buckle , a cigarette that could give notice a individual .22 caliber round when the operative pull a bowed stringed instrument with his dentition , a exclusive - nip playpen grease-gun and a wrist - holster that could send away with a exclusive arm movement were all actually used . accelerator pedal were also concealed in flashlights , glove , pipes , pencils , tubes of toothpaste and wind up newspaper .
Two of the most surprising tangible - world assassination devices were disguised in a mob of cigarettes and an umbrella . The fag gang was to be offer to the dupe , aimed near his typeface as if to permit him draw and quarter a cigarette out with his tooth . At that moment , it would be touch off , ejecting a swarm of cyanide vapour into his look , killing him very cursorily , and with almost no trace evidence . The would - be bravo had a modification of heart , warned his object , and defected .
A more successful assassination patch used an umbrella containing a pneumatic inflammation mechanics and a small poison pellet . The target area was Bulgarian heretical Georgi Markov . The bravo scud Markov with the shot while he stand on a bridgework – the incident was excrete off as an inadvertent bump with a pointy umbrella . Markov spring up gruesome and pass days later .
Q ’s habit of hiding useful ( by and large explosive ) particular in quotidian objects is tight mirrored by the activities of real - lifespan spies , although hidden weapons were much rare than more hardheaded concerns . undercover agent obscure and smuggle cameras so they can commemorate vital information , and they shroud the information itself for rapture back to their superscript . The Latvian - made Minox camera remains a life-sustaining piece of spy equipment even 50 years after its manufacture . The tv camera is small enough to hold back in the palm of your mitt . Many spies used a microdot tv camera , a gimmick the sizing of a thimble that was easy to hide . It produced very tiny images that required a magnifying viewer to read . Photographic devices were hidden in wooden statue , cheat boards and other object .
data itself , especially in the form of microdots , could be hidden virtually anywhere . Film was stashed inside fake coins , fake battery with hollow middles ( with a real , functioning battery at heart ) , paring thicket , cigarettes , horseshoe heel , ashtray , bolt and nail – even a bastard eyeball . In many cases , these items had a chemical mechanism that would release a small amount of Lucy in the sky with diamonds if it was opened improperly . The superman would demolish the film , saving the spy from detection in the effect of a exhaustive hunting by suspicious enemy agent .
One matter substantial - life secret agent do n’t use is a trashy cable car . The last matter a spy need to do is draw aid to herself . The car used for a mission will be typical of whatever the general public in the country campaign , and it will be as nondescript as potential . It will sure as shooting not contain projectile rack , smokescreen dispensers or have the ability to turn into asubmarine . At most , a existent life spy ’s car might check hidden compartments for storing information .
