Hero pigeon.......... and Aftermath.

A Royal Air Force pigeon who delivered the first news of Allied success from the Normandy beaches on D-Day is to be recognized as the greatest pigeon to have served his country, British newspaper The Times says.

Gustav, a grizzle-cock pigeon, known to the Air Ministry as codename NPS.42.31066, will be honored in a special London exhibition at the Imperial War Museum's 60th anniversary show.

During his mission, Gustav was reportedly buffeted by a headwind of up to 48 kilometers per hour and his view of the Sun, his primary means of navigation, was obscured by heavy cloud.

Undaunted, the pigeon delivered his message over 240 kilometers in five hours and 16 minutes from Normandy to Thorney Island, near Portsmouth on England's south coast.

The message read: "We are just 20 miles [32 kilometers] or so off the beaches. First assault troops landed 07:50. Signal says no interference from enemy gunfire on beach ... Steaming steadily in formation. Lightning's, Typhoons, Fortresses crossing since 05:45. No enemy aircraft seen".

Gustav's feat earned him the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of Britain's highest military honor, the Victoria Cross.

Despite dodging gunfire and foul weather during the war, Gustav found peacetime more perilous and met an end when his breeder stepped on him while mucking out his loft.



Thoughts and comments??

 

post subject

The story above reminds me of a story from WW2 relating to a RAF carrier pigeon that was loaned to the American 8th. Air Force in Scotland.
A telephone message was received by the RAF saying that unfortunately the pigeon had been killed by a ptarmigan.
This rather surprised the RAF pigeon people as the ptarmigan is not a bird of prey but more of the grouse variety.
They called back to 8th.USAF to con firm the message.
Answer came back, "Sorry, for ptarmigan read tommy-gun"
(You do need an American accent to appreciate this story!)

 

Gustav, I salute you.

 

Re: post subject

It took me a while to catch on with this one since I tend to pronounce the "p", but it's good! Inter-allied communication failure is always good for some fun stories afterwards.