Secrets are for the birds
QUESTION Why were pigeons used instead of radio to relay coded messages from the Normandy beaches on D-Day?
During World War ii, 250,000 homing pigeons were used to communicate behind enemy lines.
They had clear advantages over radio. As one breeder commented: ‘A message transmitted by radio can be intercepted; it’s not secure. The one thing about a pigeon, Jack, it can’t bloody talk, can it?’
The enemy can jam radio, cut phone lines and capture couriers. Well trained pigeons have a transmission success rate in excess of 90 per cent.
geography also played a part. in mountainous regions or among the dunes of the windswept beaches of normandy, it was difficult to lay wires and there were many radio ‘dead spaces’. Once again the pigeon proved the most reliable way to send a message.
As a u.S. Army Signals Corps bulletin put it: ‘Homing pigeons belonged to an earlier tradition as much as the Army mule and, in a small way, were as persistently laughed at, yet made a very good agent of communication, as reliable as many and more discreet than most.’
The mule was not wholly displaced by mechanisation, nor were pigeons.
The Dickin Medal for Valour — the animal’s Victoria Cross — was awarded to 32 pigeons, second only to dogs, who won 34.
Pigeons won the medal for outstanding bravery during the D-Day landings. gustav (Pigeon – nPS.42.31066) was given the award for ‘delivering the first message from the normandy beaches from a ship off the beach-head while serving with the rAF on June 6, 1944.’
Paddy (Pigeon — nPS.43.9451): ‘For the best recorded time with a message from the normandy Operations, while serving with the rAF in June 1944.’
Duke of normandy (Pigeon — nurP.41. SBC.219): ‘For being the first bird to arrive with a message from Paratroops of 21st Army group behind enemy lines on D-Day, June, 6, 1944.’
The most famous wartime pigeon was the American- trained g. i. Joe. On October 18, 1943, the British 56th infantry division called for an air strike to hit Colvi Veccia, an italian town held by the germans. unknown to them, the 169th British Brigade had entered the village and would be killed in an attack.
As the planes approached the runway, g.i. Joe arrived at headquarters with a message from the 169th giving their location. The strike was cancelled and hundreds of lives were saved. Based on the time and location noted on the message, it was calculated that g.i. Joe had flown 20 miles in 20 minutes (about 60mph) to deliver the vital message.
Norman F. Knowles, Romford, Essex.
QUESTION Was a scene altered in the 2012 animated film The Pirates! Band Of Misfits because it offended people suffering from leprosy?
THE offending scene from the Aardman Animations film was featured in a trailer. it depicted the Hugh grant-voiced Pirate Captain storming a ship in search of booty, only to be informed: ‘Afraid we don’t have any gold, old man, this is a leper boat. See...’ The speaker’s arm then drops off.
Leprosy support groups, such as Lepra Health in Action and the international Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations ( iLeP), claimed this stigmatised the disease.
Aardman agreed to remove the scene, explaining: ‘After reviewing the matter, we decided to change the scene out of respect and sensitivity for those who suffer from leprosy.’
This infectious disease that causes severe disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage in the arms, legs and skin has been known since antiquity and sufferers have been shunned as outcasts.
Today, according to the World Health Organisation, 180,000 people worldwide have leprosy, most of them in Africa and Asia.
Kristina Tony, London SE13.
QUESTION In weather forecasts, high and low pressure areas are often in close proximity. Why don’t these areas equalise or merge?
HIGH and low pressure systems are mutually incompatible and move around each other rather than merge. This is because the forces within the systems act in the opposite way. Highs are generally fair weather systems. Stormy weather is associated with lows.
Atmospheric pressure is measured in millibars and is represented on weather maps as isobars. Pressure varies from day to day at the earth’s surface in part because it is not equally heated by the Sun.
Consider air pressure as the weight of a column of air above an area. When the air is cold, the molecules are packed tightly together. The air becomes denser, begins to sink and presses on the earth’s surface, creating high pressure. Because of the earth’s spin, winds of a high pressure system rotate clockwise north of the equator and anti-clockwise south of the equator. This is called anticyclonic flow.
When the air warms, the molecules move further apart, the air becomes lighter and rises, creating low pressure. This draws moisture from the ground creating clouds, rain and storms.
The winds of a low pressure system rotate anti-clockwise north of the equator and clockwise south of the equator. This is called cyclonic flow.
Highs are generally hundreds of miles across while lows are typically less expansive. Weather under the influence of migrating highs and lows will often change in predictable sequences depending on the paths of the pressure centres.
Dr Thomas Markus, Leeds.
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