Pigeons Still Play Their Part in Warfare

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 241, 31 December 1927, Page 20

Pigeons Still Play Their Part in Warfare

INCE the day that Noah successfully dispatched his dove to reconnoitre a landing for his ark I jKXSrt j the homing instinct ot [ \ j | the pigeon has been utilised by the human race to great advantage. Even to-day, with the radio and the telegraph developed so efficiently, pigeons continue to prove a reliable met ns of collecting and disseminating information. The service of pigeons as message-bearer is not in daily use, to be sure, but whe”. an emergency arises these birds can usually be depended upon to prove their value. The most striking proof of the reliability of pigeons employed by the A. E. F. was given during the World War, particularly in the Argonne an, St. Mihiel battles, when, all commum cations having broken down, they brought back from the front message after message. Pigeons rendered great service to the British also, and the British Army boasted a Colonel oi Pigeons. To-day-, in spite of the in tensive training in communications that is given in the United States Army schools and the elaborate fieltelephone and radio sets that have been developed, the training of pigeon: is still carried on by the Signal Corps as an essential element in nations defence. The United States Army has to-day more than 1,500 of these birds scat tered throughout the country, as well as in the Panama Canal Zone and the Hawaiian and Philippine Islanc: About 500 of the pigeons are stationed at the Signal Corps School, Fort Monmouth, N.J., where they are bred ailtrained. The pigeon used for carrying anti messages does not vary appreciaWi from the ordinary species seen on tne streets, but the type has been developed by selection, breeding and titling. During their training the birds aroften put in a basket, carried ra closed automobile to a railroad statio put on a train in a closed express taken perhaps 500 miles from tne loft and then released. As soon as gets its freedom, the pigeon usual*makes two or three preliminary circi_ and then strikes a direct route home. It Is not uncommon for one these birds to make a flight of * miles between sunrise and sunse - The latest development in training in the army has been flying. In Hawaii five army P ise , have recently been trained to fly 1 ' any point on the island of Oahu , their loft. In the Panama Canal zoo there is one loft whose pigeons can liberated at any point on the s . t , on the darkest night and they w’lU . their way back as quickly as ° birds would in the daytime. Pigeon derbies have become recognised sport in military Cl ' - and their races are frequently feat at army fairs and carnivals. speed most commonly obtains** ■ these birds is from 800 to 1.200 > a minute, or more than forty tm« hour. Some of the birds have known to average as high as se miles an hour. (Continued on Pa ß e 20 -

The pigeon service Is used in action °nly when no other means of communication is available or when a message tnust be sent that cannot be expressed 111 words, such as a sketch or diasram. In such cases the message is placed on a thin piece of paper, which is folded up and placed in a light aluminium hollow cylinder. This is attached to one of the pigeon’s legs. The bird is then released and usually re-

lurns to its loft, where the message is r aken from the carrier and delivered the proper person. The lofts must therefore be located at some point iroin which messages can be readily transmitted. The birds do not always return safely, although every one of them thay be depended upon to make a supreme effort to accomplish its ass'gnment. The casualties among car!ler Pigeons in Dattie are heavy. Many or them are shot down: some tall into oe hands of the enemy, ih * *' ort Monmouth are several birds W; l * ac *rr ev 'cd distinction in the World >ar. “President Wilson” lost a leg . the St. Mihiel offensive when it was tying to get back to its loft from one “t the tanks in No Man’s Land. In f e operations. Spike, another the surviving birds, is credited with naving carried iifty-three messages !of- m the front-line “nits to the home

Another pigeon with a famous .ooord is Mocker. It received a num- . r serious wounds and lost one eye the St. Mihiel offensive. Among the birds at Fort Monmouth e also several that were captured ° m the German Army.