Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "Nine Ounce Heroes: The Surprising Contributions of War Pigeons" video.

  1. Pleased you mentioned the People Dispensary for Sick Animals, the PDSA, and their Dickin Medal, which I had mentioned in a previous video of yours. During WW2 these pigeons had become so important, especially to rescuing downed aircrews, that people were sent out to hunt hawks to stop them killing the pigeons. I did know that Olga of Kiev and her fire pigeons. Interestingly the US planned to do something similar against Japan and their wooden houses but this time using bats. They did decide against it, but not before burning down some of their own wooden buildings. And I also knew about the pigeon guidance system. Imagine someone trying to find out about why one of their ships had blown up and wondering about all the singed feathers. I have seen the photograph of the pigeon being launched out of the British tank in WW1 before. Another form of communication they used was a little set of semaphore arms on top of the tank so they could send signals to other tanks and any troops in the area. You can imagine how long they lasted in battle.
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