Capot - has it ever occurred to you that perhaps you have too much time on your hands? ;)

TTN

Sprained ankle, bored........better by tomorrow! I did order myself to switch the damned thing off a little while ago, but disobeyed....

No, no, capot is right. It was further developed after the war to counter not only getting lost, but also getting disorientated in cloud. As pigeons were found to be quite happy flying in all weathers, another bird had to be found to do the job; a duck. Combining the duck with a cat, for attitude control, led to the Cat and Duck method for recovering from inadvertent IMC.

Basic rules for the C&D Method of instrument flight are extremely simple. Here's how it's done:

1. Place a live cat on the cockpit floor; because a cat always remains upright. It can be used in lieu of a needle and ball. Merely watch to see which way the cat leans to determine if a wing is low and if so, which one.

2. The duck is used for instrument approach and landing. Because of the fact that any sensible duck will refuse to fly under instrument conditions, it is only necessary to hurl your duck out of the plane and follow it to the ground.

Noooooo!

You can't be saying that Capot's tale isn't true

Now see here, sunshine, means what it says. Every word is Gospel truth. Those little unsung heroes deserve a medal, not doubting Thomas's.

Regarding pigeon guidance systems:-

"During WW II, Project Pigeon (later Project Orcon, for "organic control") was American behaviorist B.F. Skinner's attempt to develop a pigeon-guided missile. The control system involved a lens at the front of the missile projecting an image of the target to a screen inside, while a pigeon trained (by operant conditioning) to recognize the target pecked at it. As long as the pecks remained in the center of the screen, the missile would fly straight, but pecks off-center would cause the screen to tilt, which would then, via a connection to the missile's flight controls, cause the missile to change course and slowly travel towards its designated target/s."

Too much time on his hands says Tankertrashnav with 1475 Posts:{

Guilty as charged :O

Take it to the Papua New Guinea embassy. They will know someone who understands Pidgin language.

With my old man's words ringing in my ears (he was also involved in those trials) I realise that this was just a slip of the pen, but the younger and less aware among us may need to have it pointed out that the cat's angle of lean indicated the amount by which the aircraft was slipping, and not which wing was down; in a perfect turn the cat would, of course, remain upright in the same way as a cabin attendant remains upright (in a turn, not in the slip hotel, of course).

The turn itself was indicated by the movement of the pigeon on the panel, which would also provide a coarse VS indication; as it pointed to the destination its little beak would move up in a descent, and vice versa.*


*Unless the destination was 91 - 269 degrees from the aircraft heading, in which case the beak's vertical angle would indicate the reverse, obviously.

Obviously the ability to debrief the pigeon after a mission was quite limited.

All you need is someone who can speak pigeon english !

Capot,

There is photographic evidence of the pigeon trials from Boscombe Down .... However, the early flights were carried out with a dog rather than a cat. I hope that your detractors will appologise!

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/DASTARDLY-MUT...B5Y4Q~~_35.JPG

No doubt it will be solved by a 9 year old autistic boy called Simon..

Has the D-Day pigeon riddle been cracked?

A coded message from the Second World War found tied to the remains of a carrier pigeon in a chimney contains details of German tank movements sent by a British soldier, a team of Canadian researchers believe.

Some more info from the BBC news website.

BBC News - Has World War II carrier pigeon message been cracked?

According to the CWGC, there is no Sgt Stott buried in Normandy.There is a Fusilier William Stott.

That 'decryption' is about as useful as the 'decipherings' which 'prove' that Bacon wrote Shakespeare.

Imagine you're waiting in Britain for the brave pigeon to bring the message from the undoubtedly brave observer, and you got that. 42 is a better answer.

I have always wondered how a spy could travel around occupied France carrying a pigeon. Wasn't it just a tad suspicious?