WWII carrier pigeon message discovered in Surrey chimney
 

BBC report on coded message found attached to pigeon's leg

It must have been a Royal Mail pigeon, they're notoriously late.



.

'Speckled Jim'?

Tried to get up the chimney as he was being cooked I guess.....

One of RAF Waddington's carrier pigeons, Pigeon Billy, was awarded a Dicken medal (the "animal VC") during WW2.

The pigeon was on board a Waddington based Hampden of 420 Sqn RCAF (PT-F AD915) that was lost to flak over the Frisian Islands on 18/19 Feb 42. The aircraft, which was tasked with gardening (mine laying) crashed onto the frozen beach - the pilot was taken POW, the two gunners were killed and the navigator badly injured. Three days later, the pigeon from the aircraft was found exhausted near Spurn Point having flown 250 miles into the teeth of snow and sleet storms. The message on its leg gave the aircraft position with the letters "OZO" written in the margin. It is highly likely that the Dutch Resistance had searched the aircraft wreckage once the Germans had gone and found the pigeon ("OZO" was the logo of the Dutch resistance and stands for "Holland will Rise Again").

The pilot of the aircraft was P/O Robert Key, who became a journalist after the war and was one of the "Gang of Five" who formed TV-AM in the 1980s.

Does anyone know where Waddington Heritage Centre can lay hands on a WW2 pigeon carrier that was used on bombers during WW2? It would help with the Pigeon Billy exhibit.

Very interesting, but I thought these ciphertext messages were worked out on a machine (Enigma or Tunny equivalent types) and I didn't think these were carried in our aircraft.

It looks more like an intercept being passed on by an agent.

I'll bet the boys and girls at Bletchley Park could easily convert this message to plaintext, especially if they had COLOSSUS working.

If it was encoded with an OTP (One Time Pad) the chances of decoding it are minimal!

Could be completely wrong but I don't think OTP was used by the allies during WW2.

Gemini Twin,

I know that SOE used one time pads, but how frequently they were used I do not know.

The BBC News this morning reported that the message was being taken to its original destination for decoding this afternoon. It will be interesting to see if the message becomes public.

Wensleydale

Not British but its a start...

WWII Era Pigeon Carrier & Weathering Falconry Complete Swiss VG | eBay

Speculation on what is says
"Don't invade in Normandy in June it will never work" perhaps...................

Booking references for aircrew accommodation

7 nights Normandy Coast 7th-14th June 1944?

;)

Maybe it says

Stuck in chimney.
No food.
Not long left.
Tell the old bird I love her........

Mutley rules

We must have more Marmite please send soonest.

Quest to crack secrets of lost D-Day pigeon - Telegraph

"Experts said the spelling of Serjeant was significant, because the RAF used J, while the Army used G."

Are they sure about that? :confused:

The message has been shown to be earlier than originally thought and dates from September 1918. It says,

"Archduke Ferdinand found alive. The war is a mistake."