Wire-guided, radio-guided or pigeon-guided. American research into a glide bomb steered by pigeons came out of a real World War II project, not out of a science fiction novel.
The German Luftwaffe had been using remote-controlled bombs against ships successfully since 1943, and the Americans were working flat out on something comparable. One result of those experiments was the so-called “Project Pigeon”.
The screen was mounted on a pivot and fitted with sensors that measured every angular movement. As long as the target stayed in the middle of the screen, the pigeon pecked at the middle and the bomb held its course. When the bomb began to drift, the projected target moved toward the edge of the screen. The pigeon followed it with its beak and pressed in one side of the pivoting screen, which sent a signal to the control unit and corrected the course of the bomb.
As the bomb swung back toward the target, the pigeon followed the image again and brought the screen back to its central position. That way the pigeon corrected every deviation and kept the bomb on its glide path.
The National Defense Research Committee thought the idea of putting pigeons into glide bombs was thoroughly crackpot, but still put up $25,000 for the research. On October 8, 1944, the project was shut down anyway and the effort moved to electronic guidance systems.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Project Pigeon
What was Project Pigeon?
An American research project of the Second World War to build a glide bomb steered by trained pigeons instead of electronic guidance.
How could a pigeon steer a bomb?
Three lenses in the nose projected the target onto a screen in front of the birds. The pigeons pecked at the target. When the bomb drifted, the image moved to the edge, the pigeon followed it and pressed the pivoting screen, which sent a correction signal to the control unit.
How many pigeons were in one bomb?
The guidance system in the nose used one to three pigeons sitting in front of the screen.
Was it a missile or a bomb?
Strictly speaking, a glide bomb: an airframe with small wings for gliding and a warhead mounted in the middle.
How much money went into Project Pigeon?
The National Defense Research Committee thought the idea was crackpot, but still put up $25,000 for the research.
Why was Project Pigeon cancelled?
The project was shut down on October 8, 1944, and the effort moved to electronic guidance systems.
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