WW II military pigeon carrier pics

6793 Views 38 Replies 14 Participants Last post by conditionfreak, Oct 22, 2011

conditionfreak

Discussion Starter · Mar 31, 2009

I was reading the other thread about pigeon carriers and I thought I would show off one of my pigeon paraphernalia collector items. This was supposedly a WW II British military carrier that held two pigeons and was to be carried by one soldier into combat. It is actually a pretty neat little thing. I will try to explain the pics as I go along. Here it is bundled up and ready to be carried. It is canvas, wicker and with leather straps. It appears to have been used at some point, which makes it even more cool.

See less See more

1 - 20 of 39 Posts

conditionfreak

Discussion Starter · #2 · Mar 31, 2009

Here it is with the first unwrapping of the canvas. Notice the two cloth items inside the basket. I believe that you put one pigeon in each, like a little bed. They have snaps on the tops and the bird would more or less have to just lie in them while being carried around inside the carrier. I would not fit real snuggly but would keep the birds from being able to walk or flap their wings. Sounds cruel I know, but the next pic will explain.

See less See more

conditionfreak

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 31, 2009

Here is a further unwrapping. There is a pouch with snaps, that holds four metal pins (like tent pins) and a string net. There is also four wicker walls. You use the four wicker walls, the string net and the four pins to form a small tent, which is an excersize area for the two birds to get some exercize from the little beds. The military had manuals that instructed how often the birds were to be given exercize in these little exercize yards. The next pic will show it put together (on my kitchen table). Notice the leather straps that hold both ends of the wicker carrier doors closed, and notice the holding "beds", which have little built in "pillows" in the fronts.

See less See more

LUCKYT

· #4 · Mar 31, 2009

WOW! you have a real piece of history There! Dave

conditionfreak

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 31, 2009

This is the exercize tent put together. In practicle use, the metal pins would be pushed into the ground like tent stakes. If anyone from Britain can verify that this is from World War II British Military, I would appreciate it.

See less See more

conditionfreak

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 31, 2009

Here are supposedly two WW II military leg message holders. The one on the right is supposed to be from the British Military and the one on the left is from the U.S. Military Pigeon Corps. The U.S. one is plastic and cloth with a metal snap, and labeled "PG-67". The red one is cardboard and cloth with a snap and is not labeled, but does have a small piece of cotton that would cover the leg inside the cloth. From my readings I understand that whenever a message was sent in the military during combat, two birds were released carrying the exact same message as the enemy would shoot at pigeons because they might be carrying messages, so two birds were better than one

See less See more

2

LUCKYT

· #7 · Mar 31, 2009

That is amazing! I like the Homing/War part of the homers history very much! Good item to have and preserve. Dave

LUCKYT

· #8 · Mar 31, 2009

keep it coming! I had to change item, to items in my last post. I will Shut up now, anything else? (not that what you have shown is not amazing! ) Dave

conditionfreak

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 31, 2009

I have some personal items from Charles Heitzman that came from his estate. Are you familiar with Heitzman?

maine123

· #10 · Mar 31, 2009

Very interesting!!! thanks for sharing

Big T

· #11 · Mar 31, 2009

conditionfreak said:
Here it is with the first unwrapping of the canvas. Notice the two cloth items inside the basket. I believe that you put one pigeon in each, like a little bed. They have snaps on the tops and the bird would more or less have to just lie in them while being carried around inside the carrier. I would not fit real snuggly but would keep the birds from being able to walk or flap their wings. Sounds cruel I know, but the next pic will explain.
Image Hosting

You got to remember these pigeons were being carried in combat. That carrier was being thrown around and in some cases dropped and tossed. The little bed kept the birds from being hurt. One of two things would happen, Once the birds got to a safe place and camp was set up, so was their camp; or in the heat of battle they were released with messages.

Big T

· #12 · Mar 31, 2009

This is great, thank you for sharing.

pigeon_racer

· #13 · Mar 31, 2009

conditionfreak,

I have some also, I am thinking of trying to recreate up to a point, his library/museum in a room of a museum dedicated to pigeon fanciers that had a great impact on the sport or that went into a new or remote area and started up clubs themselves. Sort of a museum dedicated to fanciers and not just the birds.

Ralph

spirit wings

· #14 · Mar 31, 2009

cool stuff! what about the Heitzman?...something guy? tell more. where did you find the carrier? this is sooooo interesting.

fastpitch dad

· #15 · Mar 31, 2009

Fastpitch Here--

That's some neat stuff you got there.

Ed

· #16 · Mar 31, 2009

where can I get me one of those carriers?
I really like it a lot

Margarret

· #17 · Mar 31, 2009

Conditionfreak,

Thank you for showing these to us. Those are wonderful pigeon collectibles.

Margaret

PigeonQueen

· #18 · Mar 31, 2009

Wow. Fascinating. Great pics. Thanks for sharing!!!!

conditionfreak

Discussion Starter · #19 · Apr 1, 2009 (Edited)

Charles Heitzman flew pigeons from Louisville, Kentucky back "in the day". He was the most famous and arguably the best American pigeon racer ever. He specialized the the lines of Sions, Stassarts and Hansennes. He crossed them mostly. Heitzman wrote several books pertaining to pigeon racing. His most famous is probably "Lofts for Racing Pigeons", but he wrote some others. Here is a pic of one I own that came from his estate. It was written by him, signed by him and was actually his one library copy in his personal library. Heitzman was famous for his pigeon library also. Below is a photograph of Heitzman with a friend known only as "Fred" (tall man on the right). I hope you can read the first pages of the book. Finally, pictured below are two pigeon statues that came from the desk in Heitzman's library.

Here is a link to the World of Wings web site. They have some of his items in their museum. http://www.pigeoncenter.org/specialcollections_page3.html

Charles Heitzman should be honored more in America for his excellent pigeon history. Winning races, breeding winners, and literary accomplishments. It seems that here in the U.S., we worship the Belgium, German, Dutch and other "overseas" pigeon breeders and racers, but Heitzman was the best we had back then, and may be the best ever in the U.S. (I don't want to start comparing other American flyers and start a debate. This is my humble opinion).

See less See more

conditionfreak

Discussion Starter · #20 · Apr 1, 2009

See less See more

2

1 - 20 of 39 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.