gaz
05-21-2004, 09:17 AM
May 21, 2004
By Michael Evans
Pigeons armed with biological weapons were among ideas in secret files
A WING commander in the Air Ministry produced a secret plan for the Cold War in which pigeons armed with a mini-biological weapon would be trained to disperse deadly substances over an enemy.
The offensive pigeon strategy is revealed in MI5 files which have been declassified and released by the National Archives in Kew.
Wing Commander William Rayner, who was head of the Air Ministry pigeon section and served on the sub-committee on carrier pigeons between 1945 and 1950, produced a manual on the birds, based on the experience of their use in the Second World War as carriers of intelligence to agents in occupied territory. He believed that his “revolutionary” ideas could change the way future wars were fought.
His ideas were taken seriously, even by Sir Stewart Menzies, the MI6 chief, and were perused by the Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Committee. However, senior MI5 officers who also served on the sub-committee were more critical, describing him as “a menace in pigeon affairs”.
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,126050,00.jpg
Wing Commander Rayner drew on research by an American scientist which claimed that the homing qualities of the birds were linked with the magnetic lines of force of the Earth, and that this meant that they could be programmed to fly in a designated direction.
His idea was to make use of this theory and arm pigeons with a two-ounce capsule of bacteriological agent, and send them off as minuscule bombers, “undetectable by radar”, to spray enemy targets up to 200 miles away.
No mention is made about which biological agent could be used, although British scientists had been experimenting with anthrax during the war.Wing Commander Rayner wrote: “I suggest that this possibility should be closely investigated and watched. A thousand pigeons, each with a two-ounce explosive capsule, landed at intervals on a specific target, might be a seriously inconvenient surprise.”
In one of the MI5 files on pigeon policy, there is a brief reference to the possible use of homing birds to seek intelligence from the territory of the new enemy, the Soviet Union.
A note from the sub-committee on carrier pigeons, dated July 1948, reads: “The committee invites the Security Service (MI5) to inform the London representative of the Central Intelligence Agency that an attempt was being made to probe behind the Iron Curtain (which went up in 1946).”
The pigeon fanciers on the secret post-war sub-committee also drew up proposals to design a special container which could house pigeons to be launched out of fast aircraft and scattered around for various missions. In the Second World War only slower aircraft were used. Captain J Caiger, a pigeon expert, designed a suitable container, a photograph of which is attached to the files. MI5 trusted Captain Caiger and sent him on a secret mission to the United States to sound out whether the US Army Signal Corps was engaged in post-war “pigeon activities”.
The pigeon planners even carried out flight tests of the birds over nuclear plants to make sure they were not affected by radiation. But it all came to nought because it was decided to close the special committee in 1950, and the era of the pigeon warrior ended. Wing Commander Rayner’s proposal for feathered biological bombers never got off the ground.
The files also include an appraisal of the wartime anti-pigeon falconry unit. The Nazis and SS had commandeered all privately owned pigeons with a view to using them in the war.
MI5 said that falcons had demonstrated that they could bring down any pigeon that crossed their patch.
Story here (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1117708,00.html)
By Michael Evans
Pigeons armed with biological weapons were among ideas in secret files
A WING commander in the Air Ministry produced a secret plan for the Cold War in which pigeons armed with a mini-biological weapon would be trained to disperse deadly substances over an enemy.
The offensive pigeon strategy is revealed in MI5 files which have been declassified and released by the National Archives in Kew.
Wing Commander William Rayner, who was head of the Air Ministry pigeon section and served on the sub-committee on carrier pigeons between 1945 and 1950, produced a manual on the birds, based on the experience of their use in the Second World War as carriers of intelligence to agents in occupied territory. He believed that his “revolutionary” ideas could change the way future wars were fought.
His ideas were taken seriously, even by Sir Stewart Menzies, the MI6 chief, and were perused by the Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Committee. However, senior MI5 officers who also served on the sub-committee were more critical, describing him as “a menace in pigeon affairs”.
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,126050,00.jpg
Wing Commander Rayner drew on research by an American scientist which claimed that the homing qualities of the birds were linked with the magnetic lines of force of the Earth, and that this meant that they could be programmed to fly in a designated direction.
His idea was to make use of this theory and arm pigeons with a two-ounce capsule of bacteriological agent, and send them off as minuscule bombers, “undetectable by radar”, to spray enemy targets up to 200 miles away.
No mention is made about which biological agent could be used, although British scientists had been experimenting with anthrax during the war.Wing Commander Rayner wrote: “I suggest that this possibility should be closely investigated and watched. A thousand pigeons, each with a two-ounce explosive capsule, landed at intervals on a specific target, might be a seriously inconvenient surprise.”
In one of the MI5 files on pigeon policy, there is a brief reference to the possible use of homing birds to seek intelligence from the territory of the new enemy, the Soviet Union.
A note from the sub-committee on carrier pigeons, dated July 1948, reads: “The committee invites the Security Service (MI5) to inform the London representative of the Central Intelligence Agency that an attempt was being made to probe behind the Iron Curtain (which went up in 1946).”
The pigeon fanciers on the secret post-war sub-committee also drew up proposals to design a special container which could house pigeons to be launched out of fast aircraft and scattered around for various missions. In the Second World War only slower aircraft were used. Captain J Caiger, a pigeon expert, designed a suitable container, a photograph of which is attached to the files. MI5 trusted Captain Caiger and sent him on a secret mission to the United States to sound out whether the US Army Signal Corps was engaged in post-war “pigeon activities”.
The pigeon planners even carried out flight tests of the birds over nuclear plants to make sure they were not affected by radiation. But it all came to nought because it was decided to close the special committee in 1950, and the era of the pigeon warrior ended. Wing Commander Rayner’s proposal for feathered biological bombers never got off the ground.
The files also include an appraisal of the wartime anti-pigeon falconry unit. The Nazis and SS had commandeered all privately owned pigeons with a view to using them in the war.
MI5 said that falcons had demonstrated that they could bring down any pigeon that crossed their patch.
Story here (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1117708,00.html)