PIGEON MESSENGERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1390, 23 November 1918, Page 2

PIGEON MESSENGERS.

USE BY THE MR SERVICE.

It is not generally known that there is a Royal Air Force Pigeon Service, whose records of war service, when they are. written, will be ol interest, says a London paper. There is the story, lor example, of a carrier" pigeon which was severely wounded while carrying ■i message from a seaplane. It tho bird which was .sent out with three others on two seaplanes carrying out patrol duties, could be given the power oi speech, it might tell a dramatic story. All that is known is thai., with blood running from its left eye, it fluttered to the ground in an aerodrome in an almost exhausted condition, and it was found that it had been shot through the eye by a bullet. The message it brought was merely the word "Attacked." According to a report subsequently received the two British machines were opposed and attacked by six Germans. The pigeon, which recovered from its wound, became the pet of the station. There are numerous cases when l similar messages carried by pigeons have resulted in the salvage of a wrecked machine and brought succour to the occupants. Among them may be mentioned a case in which a carrier pigeon, at the cost of its own life, saved the lives of six British airmen adrift in the North Sea. After delivering its appeal for assistance the pigeon fell dead from exhaus(ion. while the wrecked airmen, when relieved from their perilous position, were on the point of meeting a similar fate, having had no food and little water.