Pigeons in planes?

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by RemeDesertRat, Oct 18, 2011.

  1. izzy

    izzy Senior Member

    Just seen the Victor Annual cover takes me back a few years.
     
  2. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

  3. David Layne

    David Layne Well-Known Member

    One of the more unusual (but still fascinating) exhibitions at Bletchley Park is all about the role pigeons have played in the First and Second World Wars. Aircrews used them as rudimentary black boxes, writing their coordinates on a message and releasing the pigeon if they had to ditch or crash land.
    There was also a cull of birds-of-prey all along the south coast during World War Two to ensure the pigeons could get back safely.

    [​IMG]
     
  4. David Fairhead

    David Fairhead Junior Member

    Dear Reme

    You've got lots of replies to your general question, but the specific story is even more interesting! Kee's aircraft, as you'll have read by now, was shot down and crashed on the ice off the Dutch coast. Unbeknown to Kee when he wrote his book, the pigeon they carried - called Billy - somehow made it back to England and was found on the coast by a sentry at Spurn Point in Yorkshire, having flown about 250 miles. Here's the PDSA citation:

    "Billy" pigeon NU.41.HQ.4373
    Date of Award: August 1945
    “For delivering a message from a force-landed bomber, while in a state of complete collapse and under exceptionally bad weather conditions, while serving with the RAF in 1942.”

    He was awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal VC.
     
  5. jettisoning

    jettisoning Member

    i have a 1955 book by RALPH BARKER - DOWN IN THE DRINK (TRUE STORIES OF THE GOLDFISH CLUB and a chapter is devoted to the WINKIE episode .

    i have attached a pigeon photo NOT winkie (!!!) but it illustrates use of pigeons in the RAF
     

    Attached Files:

  6. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

  7. Joe Brown

    Joe Brown WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    As a infantry signaller in the 8th Royal Scots whilst stationed in Northumberland in 1941, I was trained to use pigeons from local selected lofts to carry messages! Tried it out again when manning the East Anglian coast defences, but gave it up . . . we preferred the old 18WS!

    WWI on the Western Front in 1915 it is reported there 15 pigeon stations with four birds each; by 1918 there were 400 stations with about 22,000 birds in 150 mobile lofts.

    Brief notes in my section on an Infantry Battalion's Signal Platoon in my War memoirs.

    Joe Brown
     
  8. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    I seem to remember that the DT published an obituary not too long ago about an army offficer who was said to be the leading authority and supremo on the use of carrier pigeons in the Second World War.
     
  9. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Pigeon Guided Missile

    [YOUTUBE]vIbZB6rNLZ4[/YOUTUBE]
     
  10. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Dave,

    What an idea!

    Not too sure about animal rights though.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  11. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    Flight Magazine DECEMBER 14, 1939



    The National Pigeon Service

    HIS MAJESTY THE KING has accepted the badge of the National Pigeon Service, which was recently established under the direction of the Air Ministry to enable the defence Services to make full use of the homing pigeon as a means of communication in peace and war. The badge, to which all members of the National Pigeon Service are entitled, is enamelled in blue and surmounted by a gilt crown. It shows a pigeon at rest and bears the inscription "National Pigeon Service." His Majesty takes a keen interest in the work of the Service and from the Royal loft at Sandringham the King's birds are daily sent out on war service. Important messages have already been received by their aid.
    A short while ago a British pilot flying off the coast found himself running short of petrol. He released one of his pigeons which flew to the Royal loft at Sandringham with a message.

    The King has asked that a fortnightly report on the activities of his birds should be submitted to him. Each member of the National Pigeon Service contracts to loan his birds for war work. The scheme is purely voluntary, but a grant of £$ a year is made by the Air Ministry to all fanciers in cases where ten of more of their birds are actually employed. There are already some 15,000 members, and the number of pigeons available for active service is approximately 750,000. More members are required, and pigeon fanciers who are interested in this scheme should communicate with Mr. J. Selby Thomas, 22, Clarence Street, Gloucester, who is the Secretary of the National Pigeon Service Committee.
     
  12. Bernard O'Connor

    Bernard O'Connor Junior Member

    Britain's Special Section reported after the war:
    1. STATISTICS. Out of a total of 16,554 pigeons sent across the Channel during the whole of the period under review, 1,722 returned of which 1,067 carried messages. In studying these results, it must be borne in mind that many aircraft failed to reach their objective and many pigeons were killed before even being released from the air.

    2. Details:

    Total Sent Returned With messages

    1941 (9 months) 650 150 (21.7%) 62 (54.66%)

    1942 2,344 276 (11.77%) 160 (58%)

    1943 5,814 634 (10.90%) 391 (61.50%)

    1944 (9 months) 7,706 662 (8.59%) 434 (65.56%)

    16,554 1,722 (10.40%) 1,067 (61.36%)

    In all, 643 (Signed) and locatable messages were received. They were valuated as follows: -

    Silly Honest Good Excellent Total

    FRANCE 115 251 275 89 730

    HOLLAND 4 5 5 8 22

    BELGIUM 14 26 34 15 69

    DENMARK 1 0 1 0 2

    134 282 315 112 843

    8. AWARDS. In the last war, collaborators behind enemy lines, who had sent us messages by pigeons, were given suitable compensation after the war.

    The desirability of giving awards which were promised in recognition of the risks run by our cross-Channel sympathisers in the present war is patent. The matter is under review. (TNA WO 208/3564, Kleyn’s Summary)
     
  13. Dave

    Dave Junior Member

    coastal command navigators used them on long patrols, the navigator worked out what he thought by dead reckoning, celestrial navigation, and a bit of a guess was the aircrafts position, then he got a pigeon out placed it on his map, if the pigeon nodded his head then the navigator knew he was right...
     
    TriciaF and Tricky Dicky like this.

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