Gimpy, WWII US Army Pigeon

[Pigeons In Combat]

Dear Pigeon Fanciers,

 

I thought you may enjoy reading the story of Gimpy, WWII US Army Pigeon.

 

Gimpy, WWII US Army Pigeon

 

"GIMPY"

HATCHED IN 1938

SON OF "THE KAISER", FAMOUS WW1 CAPTURED GERMAN WAR PIGEON

BRED & TRAINED BY COL. CLIFFORD ALGY POUTRE, US ARMY LOFTS, FORT MONMOUTH, NJ

SPECIALTY-HOMING TO MOBILE LOFTS

 

 

National Defense: Gimpy

 

Published on Monday, Feb. 24, 1941

Time Magazine

 

 

From the day he got his feathers Gimpy was a superior bird. Master Sgt. Clifford Algy Poutre, the lean, leathery boss pigeon man at the Signal Corps pigeon lofts on the Jersey flats at Fort Monmouth, liked to say that the Army would hear from Gimpy some day. His breed was right. His father, old red Kaiser, captured in a German trench in the Argonne, is still the oldest military pigeon in the business (24 last month), and his Scotland-hatched mother had good blood in her.

 

 

Since Sgt. Poutre gave Gimpy the job of instructing younger pigeons last fall, he has turned out 150 graduates, trained to fly back to the trailer lofts as straight as a crow. Taken farther and farther away each day from Monmouth, he led them back unerringly to the loft, showed them that a pigeon can fly with a message capsule on leg or back. Last week, on his twisted right leg, three-year-old Gimpy stumped among a new class of 52 youngsters, fixed them with a hard eye.

 

 

To read Gimpy's entire story, please visit "The Pigeoneers" page on the website and scroll down: http://www.pigeonsincombat.com or please visit: http://www.pigeonsincombat.com/thepigeoneerswebpage.html and scroll down.

 

 

All the best for 2010!!!

 

 

Kindest regards,

 

Al Croseri

 

http://www.pigeonsincombat.com

[Guest peter.j]

good story but kaiser would of been at least 20 when he sired him :-/

[BLACK W F]

you know what they say peter  old cks and young hens ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Guest peter.j]

you know what they say peter  old cks and young hens ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

thats why my hens 26

[ally mac]

I found this when I was tring to find out about a loft of pigeons that were kept at the wartime seaplane base in Oban. One of my old bosses first jobs when war broke out was to build a loft in the boatyard that was being used for the seaplanes.

 

Part of RAF Coastal Command operated from the Shetland Islands, using Catalinas to patrol the northern sea routes looking for U Boats returning to Germany. The crews used to go out on 22 hour missions, searching for and, if possible, sinking any U Boats. As each plane ws ready to leave the crew collected two pigeons from the lofts, just as a fail-safe in case the radios packed up or any emergencies arose. In October 1942, Ted Southern was asked to sustitute for another crew member on a mission, so he was not flying with his own crew, which was always a little unsettling. Towards the end of the flight the weather turned really bad with gales and fog, so the Catalina was not allowed to land at Sullom Voe in the Shetlands, and was directed to Aberdeen, but there the storm conditions were just as bad and the plane was directed to Oban. With petrol running low, and finally running out, the plane was forced to ditch in the Atlantic. There was no radio contact, so the captain put messages as to their location into the leg capsules of each pigeon and sent them off. There were two life rafts, but accidentally one of them drifted off with only two men in it, which left too many men for the other raft, and everyone voted to stay on board the plane.

One of the pigeons never made it home, but White Vision flew 60 miles against the gale force wind with visibility down to about zero, and landed exhausted and with lots of feathers missing. From the message in the capsule, calculating wind speed and tidal drift, the RAF sent out the launch and came across the Catalina after about forty hours. As the last man jumped the gap between the tossing plane and the launch, the plane immediately sank, as though someone or something had been holding it up until that moment. The two men who had drifted off were picked up later, with the result that White Vision was responsible for saving 11 men, and was awarded the Dicken Medal, one of about 33 pigeons to be honoured in this way. White Vision was bred by Fleming Brothers of Motherwell, and she lived until 1953. How many other people can say that they owe their existence to a pigeon? If she had not reached her loft, the crew would have drowned, Ted Southern would not have survived and married my Mum and I wouldn't be here writing this.

[Guest JonesyBhoy]

We should be using info like this more.. in all the save our sport campaigns..

[slinky slitheroe]

We should be using info like this more.. in all the save our sport campaigns..

Here Here and try and make the public aware that the racing pigeon is being slaughtered by bop.

 

 

[gulkie]

the s.h.u. have been advertising the pigeons

in war for years,but with very little success,

advertised in a book written by linda brooks

also leaflets. books can be bought

from shu at a reasonable cost, execelent reading

[flights of memory]i know linda had some books

left when they moved office, they will be selling

them of cheap now.  

      

[Guest JonesyBhoy]

the s.h.u. have been advertising the pigeons

in war for years,but with very little success,

advertised in a book written by linda brooks

also leaflets. books can be bought

from shu at a reasonable cost, execelent reading

[flights of memory]i know linda had some books

left when they moved office, they will be selling

them of cheap now.  

      

 

Stuff like that seems to only be available to pigeon fanciers tho..

 

Im meaning the RPRA should have people speaking about this in the press/tv/radio.. right in to the public domain..

 

Pull at their heart strings.. theres not many people that haven't had family etc affected by war..

 

Swing public opinion in our favour.. it'll make tackling the bop situation a lot easier with even just a fraction of public support..

[gulkie]

 

Stuff like that seems to only be available to pigeon fanciers tho..

 

Im meaning the RPRA should have people speaking about this in the press/tv/radio.. right in to the public domain..

 

Pull at their heart strings.. theres not many people that haven't had family etc affected by war..

 

Swing public opinion in our favour.. it'll make tackling the bop situation a lot easier with even just a fraction of public support..

linda has been on the radio, and met lots of noteble people

been to parliment and told them about all the charitable work carried out by the fancy,but   what % of the public realy want to know?.

 

 

[Guest JonesyBhoy]

linda has been on the radio, and met lots of noteble people

been to parliment and told them about all the charitable work carried out by the fancy,but   what % of the public realy want to know?.

 

 

Im not disputing the great work Linda has done for the sport..

 

But the RPRA could hire someone who specialises in PR.. to do the job..

[micko and jack]

CHAIRDE   FRIENDS

Al is a very good friend of myself and jack

you may remember a few months ago

i posted a threat about PADDY

and a link to Al's site  

Paddy a war pigeon from Ireland who

is the only Irish recipient of the Dicken Medal

i asked you all before to visit Al's site

you will even see a bit on jack

we all talk about bringing new members into our sport

Al's doing his bit

please support him

visit his site

and send him a message

and tell him you know

jack from belfast it will only take 10 minutes

and you Will find some interesting things

i know i did

GO RAIBH MAITH AGAT    

THANK YOU mick

 

ps

Al great to see you on this site mick and jack

[Pigeons In Combat]

Hey Mick,

 

It's a pleasure to support Jack--he is the future of our sport!!

 

Thanks for all your kind words. I'm doing my best to preserve the history and legacy of the homing pigeons and their heroic war efforts.  

 

Take very good care mo chara and say hello to Jack!

 

Your friend,

Al

http://www.pigeonsincombat.com