Saturday 6 April 2024

A to Z Challenge 2024

 

A to Z Challenge 2024


This year my blog posts for the April 2024 Challenge will be about the recipients of the Dickin Medal, which you can read about hereThey are in alphabetical, not chronological order, within the different letters.

F

Flying Dutchman

In 1945, the pigeon Flying Dutchman received the Dickin Medal ‘For successfully delivering messages from agents in Holland on three occasions. Missing on fourth mission, while serving with the RAF in 1944.’ This bird was bred by E.G. Forster of Walthamstow.

It is unlikely but maybe Flying Dutchman was captured and became a POW (Prisoner of War)

 One homing pigeon, Lucia di Lammermoor, released by Allied troops in the Italian campaign of the winter of 1944, was captured by the Germans.  Eventually, it returned to its home loft with the message, ‘To the American Troops: Herewith we return a pigeon to you. We have enough to eat – The German Troops.’

Also in December 1944, Maidenform, more usually associated with women’s undergarments, undertook an American Government contract to provide 28,500 vests for pigeons. The garments were shaped to the body of the bird, covering the wings, but leaving the wing tips and every other part exposed.



Blueprint for pigeon vest. The instructions stated that the bird should not spend more than six hours in the vest.

Image source

 Paratroopers could attach the birds in the vests to themselves before they jumped. The vests enabled larger items, like maps, reports or photographs to be carried on missions undertaken by the pigeons; even a very small camera could be attached.

 

Pigeon  with camera 
Image source

28 comments:

  1. That is fascinating about the vests for the pigeons. What a great idea. My Mum knitted jerseys for my daughter in laws hens would you believe. These hens had been rescued from battery hen operations & were unwell & very few feathers left ... so I found a pattern online for knitted hens jerseys. They kept the hens warm until some feathers grew back. ( I am not making this up by the way)

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    1. That was a lovely thing for your mother to do. Battery hens have a miserable life.
      I wrote a blog post about ducks in jumpers:
      https://jabblog-jabblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/drunk-as-duck.html

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  2. I love this. I will be back to read more. I could swear someone I used to know mentioned making pigeon vests, but I can't remember who it was.
    https://amomentwithmystee.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20to%20Z%20Challenge%202024?max-results=5

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    1. I hope you can remember and let me know:-)

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  3. A very cheeky message from the Germans :)

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    1. There were some light moments amid the horrors.

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  4. OMG! This is so interesting. A pigeon vest? Wow! I love the German message though.

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    1. There are so many extraordinary stories.

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  5. Flying Dutchman was a great name for the pigeon, but I sincerely hope he was not captured and imprisoned. Hungry soldiers would have had roasted Dutch meat in the trenches that night.

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    1. After the war, pigeon numbers dropped drastically across Europe, as pigeons were shot for food.

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  6. Poor pigeons - having to wear a vest! xx

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  7. I love the message the Germans wrote went they sent the pigeon back to England. It is strange how enemies can kill each other and yet personally be quite nice people.

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    1. They were, after all, just obeying orders.

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  8. Isn't it amazing all this about the wartime pigeons.......
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. Hundreds, thousands of pigeons were used. x x x

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  9. I'm loving the story of Lucia di Lammermoor, and I'm intrigued about the Maidenform pigeon vests! xxx

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  10. Some of the pigeons had such exotic names. x x x

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  11. This theme is fascinating, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the posts. I knew that carrier pigeons were important to the war effort but had no idea of these details. I wonder which German was responsible for sending the message back to the Americans, possibly a random soldier with a sense of humor.

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    1. It's easy to think of 'the enemy' as a faceless creature, rather than a living, breathing human being with all the same emotions and needs of everyone else.

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  12. I think 'Flying Dutchman' was a great name for the pigeon.
    These birds were amazing weren't they.

    All the best Jan

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    1. So small and yet so very important, to both sides in the conflict.

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  13. https://www.southcoastview.co.uk/news/warrior-birds-memorial/
    Thought you might find this interesting. No Roots Sussex

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    1. Thank you for the link. I had no idea this existed and wonder how many other such memorials there are. Many, I imagine. I will reference it in a future post.

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  14. Pigeons have always fascinated me. That could be because I grew up in New York City. Some apartment residents would have coops on the roofs of their apartment buildings and raise homing pigeons. I had no idea that Maidenform was ever involved in manufacturing vests for war pigeons.

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    1. Homing pigeons are so interesting. I think I'd be very worried if I had racing pigeons and they were late returning to the loft. Not knowing must be dreadful.

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  15. This is so interesting but I do feel some sadness for the pigeons.

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    1. I agree, but then, so many are shot these days for sport.

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