U.S. Training Pigeons to Fly at Night
Item
-
Title (Dublin Core)
-
U.S. Training Pigeons to Fly at Night
-
Article Title and/or Image Caption (Dublin Core)
-
U.S. Training Pigeons to Fly at Night
-
extracted text (Extract Text)
-
In teaching pigeons to fly at night, army officers claim to be developing a necessary factor in national defense and the maintenance of communications when other methods fail.
A band of night fliers in the Canal Zone has been trained with remarkable success, the birds, released at any point in the region, finding their way home on the darkest nights as speedily as in day-light. Unaffected by weather conditions, the pigeons make flights through thick haze and heavy tropical rains to a loft having its interior illuminated by electric lights.
"These birds were put to a useful purpose recently," said an officer, "when a small army vessel was in distress 40 miles at sea. Soon after dusk a pair of night-flying pigeons was released with messages asking for aid. In two hours, the birds were at the home loft, and relief was on its way."
In another instance, a tug carrying army officers and their families was not heard from for two days after it had started on a trip, causing great uneasiness among friends ashore. Its radio apparatus failing to work, some pigeons that were on board were liberated with reports of the craft's location, which were received by the post early the morning following.
Homing pigeons, it is said, fly with remarkable speed, often covering distances of 300 miles in a single night, where weather conditions are at best. To protect its eyes during flight, nature has equipped the pigeon with a kind of transparent lid that it closes at will. That memory and sense of direction are among its strongest faculties, is shown by the fact that even when carried long distances in covered baskets, these birds will immediately strike for home when released in the darkness.
During the late war, Great Britain alone, is said to have used more than 80.000 pigeons, whose life-saving value was demonstrated in rescues of wrecked aviators, and relief of troops isolated from the main armies, through receipt of messages carried by these feathered creatures.
Many ships and aircraft are now being equipped with pigeons before they start upon their trips, to be used as a means of communicating with their stations in the event that mishaps make wireless messages impossible to send.
-
Contributor (Dublin Core)
-
U.S. Navy (photograph)
-
Language (Dublin Core)
-
eng
-
Date Issued (Dublin Core)
-
1923-11
-
pages (Bibliographic Ontology)
-
754-755
-
Rights (Dublin Core)
-
Public Domain (Google digitized)
-
Archived by (Dublin Core)
-
Marco Bortolami
-
Marco Bortolami (editor)
Popular Mechanics, v. 40, n. 5, 1923
Cattura.JPG