Laurel outlook., 1945-06-06
Homing Pigeons
Train Like els
Bird Is Represented in All
Branches of American
Armed Services.

MIAMI, FLA.-Dusty, the homing
pigeon at the army air transport
commands Seth street base here, is
no longer a "gourmet's speciality
SQUAD on toast-but rather a feath-
cred soldier in the United States
army.
DUSTY" is an army messenger
that balls out at $4,000 feet to fly
through fax and natural phe-
nomena over hundreds Of miles of
ocean and land to bring to his home
base the message upon which may
depend the lives of his crewmates.
The pigeon is represented in all
branches of the armed services.
Combat units carry their pigeons
along-they are parachuted down to
men In isolated areas-to substitute
for walkie-talkie radios when dense
Jungles make the short range radio
ineffective.
The pigeons chief role is to SUBJ
stitute for other forms of communi-
cation.
Birds Dropped in Bags.
When the army air forces decided
to adapt the bird for use in air
craft, they ran into some difficulty.
Releasing the pigeons from ground
cages, to pick their own altitude for
flying, was one thing; tossing them
out into the slipstream of a four
motored bomber roaring along at
300 miles an hour at attitudes up
to $4,000 feet, where sub-zero tenn
peratures will freeze a mans hands
or face and where an oxygen mask
must be worn, was something else.
The blast from the propellers threat
ened to shear their wings off.
The army solved the problem by
placing the bird in a paper bag,
slit down one side, before dropping
him out. The second it takes him
to fight free is enough to sweep him
clear of plane and propeller wash.
Flight surgeons were puzzled over
the pigeons complete immunity to
freezing temperatures and lack Of
oxygen. During flight the pigeon is
oblivious to altitude, while the crew.
men work in oxygen masks. The
mystery was for a time second
only to the question: How does
a pigeon pick a straight course
home from a distance of several
hundred miles?
The answer, however, was soon
found by flight surgeons. They dis
covered that the pigeons basal
metabolic rate was so low that even
the oxygen present at $4,000 or 49,
900 feet is sufficient to keep the
bird alive. His oxygen intake is low
and he is able to withstand the cold
because of a slightly higher body
heat, the medicos explained. In
addition, his body insulation can be
doubled by fluffing out his feathers
to catch warm particles of air.
Get Basic Training.
Tactical ships leaving the Miami
base and combat planes ferried to
overseas theaters carry a crate of
four pigeons-two to fly home to the
Miami base and two who will fly 10
the next base on the route.
If the plane lands at sea, all birds
are set free with messages, which
give the location, time, identity of
ship and any other information
which might be necessary.
The pigeons are put through a
regular "basic training" at ATC's
bases at 36th street, Homestead and
field, Fla, under the
direction of Lieut.. John Regan, a
former Boston college football star.
He said "as soon as they are able
to fly we start them out just like
we would a bunch Of GIs-short
at the beginning and longer
trips toward the end. They start at
six weeks, and at IL weeks we've
had them flying 300 miles ever wa
ter-with nothing to rest on during
the trip"
pigeons will go AWOL just
ike GIs," he explained. 1--WE bring
in here from southern st3tes
% their port of embarkation and
with their movable homes they're
overseas. But just let
hem get loose here, and they're
gone. We've had them go AWOL
back to North Carolina, Mississippi
and other places"