Art Bragg, Colonel Blackhead and Dr. Prod were at the Soul-Ace-Hotel swapping war stories. Art loved to recall how he won his medal when he and one of his carrier pigeons saved a platoon from certain ambush. “As you may or may not know,” began Art, ” carrier pigeons are able to fly in excess of 70 kilometres per hour for a number of hours. As it happens, I was at our temporary headquarters when we intercepted an enemy transmission about an imminent ambush on our advancing troops. Immediately I attached the warning message to my prize carrier and sent him off to warn the platoon. Within hours my carrier returned with a message that the troops would hold their position until reinforcements arrived.” “What a cock-and-bull story that is,” snorted Colonel Blackhead.
Why?
Solution
Although more than 50,000 pigeons were used as communications couriers in World War II, carrier or homing pigeons are strictly one-way birds. A pigeon is not able to take a message anywhere and then return home with an answer. The pigeon is taken along until a message needs to be sent back to the base, in this case the bird’s home. The message is then attached to the pigeon and it’s released.