Front-line Fowl: Messenger Pigeons as Communications Technology in the U.S. Army

ABSTRACT The United States Army Signal Corps maintained a program for communication by messenger pigeon from 1917 to 1957, long after developments in electronic communications technology rendered pigeons obsolete in many contexts. This article presents the history of the Signal Corps Pigeon Service as one of technological persistence and innovation. It argues that messenger pigeons remained significantly useful to the U.S. Army in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, primarily as a means of backup or emergency communication working in tandem with electronics. It shows that the physical and social environments of warfare created frequent need for this ‘low tech’ system. The article further suggests that certain changes in physical and social environments on and off the battlefield encouraged the program’s dismantling.