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Pigeon guided missiles?!
I found this earlier today, it may not be new to yourselves - but the
thought of some pigeon tapping away frantically inside a speeding missile had me in stiches! http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m.../article.jhtml Hope it tickles something, Jim Doyle Here it is in full: A study of missile guidance by pigeon pecking has been taken out from under wraps by the Navy. At the same time, perhaps to calm fears of guidance designers, the Navy made clear that the project has been discontinued. Started during World War II, Project Orcon (for organic control) was a try-anything approach to solving some then-current problems. Guidance systems for homing missiles were being easily countermeasured and the Navy thought animals might have potential as a jam-proof control element. Pigeons were selected for trial because they were light, easily obtainable and adaptable. Their job was to ride inside a missile and peck at an image of a target picked up by a lens in the missile's nose. The pigeon's pecking of the target image was translated into an error signal that corrected the simulated missile's simulated flight. The project was revived in 1948 and carried further. In simulated rocket tests, the pigeons produced "surprisingly good results." The researchers were convinced that a pigeon could successfully guide a speeding missile under optimum conditions, compensating for his own and the missile's errors. But after three years of equipment development and testing, the project was abandoned because the range of the Orcon system could be no greater than the range of any optical system and the system could be used only in the daytime. The trainer used target images photographed in color by a jet plane, which made picture-taking dives at a destroyer and a freighter in open sea. Trainee pigeons were started out in the primary trainer pecking at slowly moving targets. They were rewarded with corn for each hit and quickly learned that good pecking meant more food. Eventually pigeons were able to track a target jumping back and forth at five inches per second for 80 seconds, without a break. Peck frequency turned out to be four per second, and more than 80 percent of the pecks were within a quarter inch of the target. The training conditions simulated missile-flight speeds of about 400 miles per hour. The image was shown under a glass screen coated with stannic oxide to make it electrically conducting. Through circuitry based on the Wheatstone Bridge principle, pecks on the glass were translated into distance right and left and up and down from the center lines. The target was moved by a small mirror controlled by a servo. The control circuits were such that if the pigeon stopped tracking, the target image would drift rapidly away from the center of the screen. This forced the pigeon to correct not only his own pecking errors, but those introduced by the yawing of the missile. It turned out that 55.3 per cent of the runs made were successful--that is, the pigeons were able to keep the target image on their screens for the duration of more than half their flights. If pigeon guidance did not get very far in the Navy, it did have one valuable offshoot. The electrically conducting glass was later used in many radar displays. (ELECTRONIC DESIGN, November 25, 1959, p. 16) |
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"Jim Doyle" wrote in message ... I found this earlier today, it may not be new to yourselves - but the thought of some pigeon tapping away frantically inside a speeding missile had me in stiches! http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m.../article.jhtml Hope it tickles something, Jim Doyle Here it is in full: A study of missile guidance by pigeon pecking has been taken out from under wraps by the Navy. At the same time, perhaps to calm fears of guidance designers, the Navy made clear that the project has been discontinued. Started during World War II, Project Orcon (for organic control) was a try-anything approach to solving some then-current problems. Guidance systems for homing missiles were being easily countermeasured and the Navy thought animals might have potential as a jam-proof control element. Pigeons were selected for trial because they were light, easily obtainable and adaptable. Their job was to ride inside a missile and peck at an image of a target picked up by a lens in the missile's nose. The pigeon's pecking of the target image was translated into an error signal that corrected the simulated missile's simulated flight. The project was revived in 1948 and carried further. In simulated rocket tests, the pigeons produced "surprisingly good results." The researchers were convinced that a pigeon could successfully guide a speeding missile under optimum conditions, compensating for his own and the missile's errors. But after three years of equipment development and testing, the project was abandoned because the range of the Orcon system could be no greater than the range of any optical system and the system could be used only in the daytime. The trainer used target images photographed in color by a jet plane, which made picture-taking dives at a destroyer and a freighter in open sea. Trainee pigeons were started out in the primary trainer pecking at slowly moving targets. They were rewarded with corn for each hit and quickly learned that good pecking meant more food. Eventually pigeons were able to track a target jumping back and forth at five inches per second for 80 seconds, without a break. Peck frequency turned out to be four per second, and more than 80 percent of the pecks were within a quarter inch of the target. The training conditions simulated missile-flight speeds of about 400 miles per hour. The image was shown under a glass screen coated with stannic oxide to make it electrically conducting. Through circuitry based on the Wheatstone Bridge principle, pecks on the glass were translated into distance right and left and up and down from the center lines. The target was moved by a small mirror controlled by a servo. The control circuits were such that if the pigeon stopped tracking, the target image would drift rapidly away from the center of the screen. This forced the pigeon to correct not only his own pecking errors, but those introduced by the yawing of the missile. It turned out that 55.3 per cent of the runs made were successful--that is, the pigeons were able to keep the target image on their screens for the duration of more than half their flights. If pigeon guidance did not get very far in the Navy, it did have one valuable offshoot. The electrically conducting glass was later used in many radar displays. (ELECTRONIC DESIGN, November 25, 1959, p. 16) The recent BBC2 programme Crafty Tricks of War showed this a few weeks ago. Got to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen!! They made a mock up (adult sized) to prove the concept and it all worked. Just needed some conditioned (and dedicated) pigeons and of you go. Makes me wonder of the MoD (and DoD) aren't telling us something about todays PGBs??? |
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"Ian" wrote in message ...
"Jim Doyle" wrote in message ... I found this earlier today, it may not be new to yourselves - but the thought of some pigeon tapping away frantically inside a speeding missile had me in stiches! http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m.../article.jhtml Hope it tickles something, Jim Doyle Thanks for the story. Here's another one concerning Britain's use of Falcons to combat the Nazi Pigeon menace during the pre-invasion plans for Operation Sea Lion. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_r...ies/263333.stm The article does not, however, tell of the continued development of the Nazi pigeon. The German Army and SS used specially trained pigeons to target troops and perform recon with special cameras developed by Zeiss. I'll try to find that info as well somewhere in an "animals at war" site. Rob p.s. You are aware of the CIA exploding pigeons, right? Supposedly they and the exploding dogs were successfully used against terrorists in the '80s. The exploding pigeon was used with a pinpoint laser designator while the dog was just introduced into the area and detonated when convenient. |
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robert arndt wrote:
"Ian" wrote in message ... "Jim Doyle" wrote in message ... I found this earlier today, it may not be new to yourselves - but the thought of some pigeon tapping away frantically inside a speeding missile had me in stiches! http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m.../article.jhtml Hope it tickles something, Jim Doyle Thanks for the story. Here's another one concerning Britain's use of Falcons to combat the Nazi Pigeon menace during the pre-invasion plans for Operation Sea Lion. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_r...ies/263333.stm The article does not, however, tell of the continued development of the Nazi pigeon. The German Army and SS used specially trained pigeons to target troops and perform recon with special cameras developed by Zeiss. I'll try to find that info as well somewhere in an "animals at war" site. Rob p.s. You are aware of the CIA exploding pigeons, right? Supposedly they and the exploding dogs were successfully used against terrorists in the '80s. The exploding pigeon was used with a pinpoint laser designator while the dog was just introduced into the area and detonated when convenient. As opposed to the exploding cat of course, it would explode when inconvenient. No doubt someone will be along shortly with tales of the not particularly succesful anti tank dogs and the anti shipping torpedo dolphins. -- James... www.jameshart.co.uk |
#5
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"James Hart" wrote in message ...
robert arndt wrote: "Ian" wrote in message ... "Jim Doyle" wrote in message ... I found this earlier today, it may not be new to yourselves - but the thought of some pigeon tapping away frantically inside a speeding missile had me in stiches! http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m.../article.jhtml Hope it tickles something, Jim Doyle Thanks for the story. Here's another one concerning Britain's use of Falcons to combat the Nazi Pigeon menace during the pre-invasion plans for Operation Sea Lion. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_r...ies/263333.stm The article does not, however, tell of the continued development of the Nazi pigeon. The German Army and SS used specially trained pigeons to target troops and perform recon with special cameras developed by Zeiss. I'll try to find that info as well somewhere in an "animals at war" site. Rob p.s. You are aware of the CIA exploding pigeons, right? Supposedly they and the exploding dogs were successfully used against terrorists in the '80s. The exploding pigeon was used with a pinpoint laser designator while the dog was just introduced into the area and detonated when convenient. As opposed to the exploding cat of course, it would explode when inconvenient. No doubt someone will be along shortly with tales of the not particularly succesful anti tank dogs and the anti shipping torpedo dolphins. Uh, the Russian AT dogs were a failure because they usually went for Russian tanks which used gasoline. Since the dogs were taught to crawl under Russian tanks in training they smelled the gasoline from the engines. German tanks used diesel so the Pavlov training the Russians used turned against them. Only a few German tanks were ever destroyed this way but 22 Russian tanks were lost to their own dogs!' The Germans used AT dogs as well, but with a special harness that released the dog once under or on top of the enemy tank. The Germans loved their animals and none were starved to perform nor blown apart- the charges being timed. A few German dogs even recieved the Iron Cross! No lie. You will see particularly many photos during the war with the SS and their dogs riding with them in the Sdkfz 251s, Kubelwagens, or in Zundapp/BMW motorcycle sidecars! Besides pigeons and dogs, the Germans also used Elephants in Hamburg to plow and move machinery. They used horses and mules to carry panzerfaust and panzerschrek AT weapons in wooden carts at wars end, sometimes in a quad arrangement. BTW, the dolphin stories are true. They were used to protect Trident boomers as well as recently used in Iraq to locate mines and possible enemy divers. Rob |
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Uh, the Russian AT dogs were a failure because they usually went for
Russian tanks which used gasoline. Since the dogs were taught to crawl under Russian tanks in training they smelled the gasoline from the engines. German tanks used diesel so the Pavlov training the Russians used turned against them. Only a few German tanks were ever destroyed this way but 22 Russian tanks were lost to their own dogs!' The only problem with that is that the vast majority of Soviet tanks, especially after about August, 1941, were (Wait for it!) Diesel powered. (BT-8, T-34 & derivatives, T-60 & derivatives, KV-whatever - they also got the Lion's Share of Diesel Shermans). No Lend-Lease Shermans nor T-34 tanks are recorded as lost to dog mines. The earlier petrol powered Russian light tanks and BT-series (1-5)were the casualties IIRC. The German tanks didn't use Diesels. They use Heavy Oil spark ignition (Otto Cycle) engines. In many ways, the worst of both worlds. The only Diesels thay used in Armored Vehicles, other than some prototypes, such as teh E100 hull, were the Tatra engines used in some Armored Cars and the vehicles derived from the Czech Pz 38(t). My bad, I was trying to remember the history from memory. Anyway, the Russian dog mines didn't respond to the unfamiliar German AFVs but the Germans did find out about them. So they ordered their troops to shoot on sight any dogs found on the battlefield (the claim was rabies to keep the mine danger suppressed). Here's a photo of a Russian dog mine: http://www.ostfront.com/images_german/dogmine1.jpg Rob p.s. I'll try to find the German minehunden, especially the Iron Cross winners! |
#8
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it's curious that this is being presented as something just uncovered.
I recall reading in several journals about this way back in the 1970's. I think BF skinner was involved in this. They also had pigeons working as pill-sorters, but somebody at the pill company decided that customers would not like the idea of pigeons pecking at their pills. |
#9
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"George R. Gonzalez" wrote in message ... it's curious that this is being presented as something just uncovered. Only just found out about it! Jim |
#10
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Uh, the Russian AT dogs were a failure because they usually went for
Russian tanks which used gasoline. Since the dogs were taught to crawl under Russian tanks in training they smelled the gasoline from the engines. German tanks used diesel so the Pavlov training the Russians used turned against them. Only a few German tanks were ever destroyed this way but 22 Russian tanks were lost to their own dogs!' The Germans used AT dogs as well, but with a special harness that released the dog once under or on top of the enemy tank. The Germans loved their animals and none were starved to perform nor blown apart- the charges being timed. A few German dogs even recieved the Iron Cross! No lie. You will see particularly many photos during the war with the SS and their dogs riding with them in the Sdkfz 251s, Kubelwagens, or in Zundapp/BMW motorcycle sidecars! Besides pigeons and dogs, the Germans also used Elephants in Hamburg to plow and move machinery. They used horses and mules to carry panzerfaust and panzerschrek AT weapons in wooden carts at wars end, sometimes in a quad arrangement. BTW, the dolphin stories are true. They were used to protect Trident boomers as well as recently used in Iraq to locate mines and possible enemy divers. Rob I thought the Russian dogs were a failure as they'd been trained on mainly russian tanks (the theory being that they'd associate lying under tha tanks with the reward). Unfortunately for the trainers, they usually ra\n under their own tanks? Either way, they weren't very successful |
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