PIGEON SERVICE

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 September 1940, Page 5

PIGEON SERVICE

VALUABLE AID TO THE R.A.F. ' It is a strange twist of fate that! compels the Air Ministry to request the public to destroy peregrine fal-j cons for the better defence of the realm, writes W. K. Bliss in the London “Evening Standard.” Falcons, long sheltered by the Wild Birds’ Protection Act, are now virtually classed as enemy interceptor fighters because of their depredations against the mes-1 senger pigeons which form the last line of communications of R.A.F. aeroplanes operating over the sea. The Minister’s move was timely, for ever since they went on active service the pigeons have had to face more enemies than they should be expected to cope with—bullets, weather, birds of prey, and men out with guns shooting for the pot. The last alone at one time accounted for about a hundred birds a week. The penalty, for shooting a pigeon has been raised from a fine of £2 to a fine of £lOO, or three months’ imprisonment, or both. It is possible that the failure of a pigeon to return home may mean that two or three airmen are left in a precarious rubber boat far out in the North Sea without hope of rescue.

As soon as war broke out tens of thousands of pigeons went on active service with the R.A.F. All land planes flying over the sea, and many flying-boats as well, carry as part of their routine complement two homing pigeons in a basket. In the event of a forced descent the birds may be released to fly back with an SOS. The birds go on duty with a standardised SOS already attached to the blue-tinted carrier clipped to one leg. On the carrier there is a whitepainted patch which acts as a lastminute writing pad. A map reference or bearing is scratched on the white patch just before the bird is released. This is the quickest and most effective method possible, for it gives an opportunity to release the birds while the plane is still in the air, and saves trouble if the release has to be made from the collapsible rubber dinghy into which the crew tumble immediately their machine strikes the water. The chief objection to pigeons is their slowness. Their average air speed is 40 miles an hour; they achieve a mile a minute only with the aid of a good tail wind. If the wind is head-on and strong, the SOS message and its bearer may never reach home. Still, birds on active service have been known to average 35 or 40 miles an hour from between 200 and 300 miles out to sea. One brought an SOS from 200 miles off the coast of Norway. DIFFICULTIES OF RELEASE. A 200 miles an hour slipstream is one of the difficulties the pigeon has to face when released from a plane in the air. This has -entailed special research Work to determine the best place on various types of aircraft from which to release the birds. In

one it may be a turret, in another the bomb trapdoor. Before this research taught the R.A.F. the lessons they know to-day the pigeon suffered severely. Experiments were also made in tossing them out wrapped in newspaper with just the head showing. Now they are released gently facing the direction in which the plane is travelling. The birds soon learn by experience and acquire the knack .of dropping clear of the plane with wings closed before attempting to fly. Hundreds of birds, are out on service with bombers and Coastal Command planes every day. The scheme is run by the National Pigeon Service. Every ail' station which requires pigeons has behind it a local organisation of homing pigeon owners possessing not under twenty birds. The chief of each local group is the P.S.O. or Pigeon Service Officer —a civilian —who arranges to collect the necessary number of birds from the lofts of the local owners and deliver them daily to the signals officer at the air station. At the airfield they come on the official strength, and Air Ministry accounts contain chits for peas, grit, and bird baths. A small payment is made to the owners of the birds to pay for the birds’ food. Their lofts are fitted with an electrical device which causes a bird to register its return home by ringing a bell. If the owner is not already on the telephone, it is installed for him.

Pigeon messenger services are increasing, and the War Office is now using them to a considerable extent in home defence plans as a precaution in case other means of communication are destroyed.