Everybody knows that espionage has long been an important aspect of warfare. In the early twentieth century, the German military collected photographs in order to keep tabs on their enemies. But these were no ordinary photographs: they were aerial shots, taken from above, and the photographers were none other than pigeons. A German engineer named Julius Neubronner created a small analogue camera with a timer that could be fitted around a pigeon’s neck. The military took note of this and soon the pigeons were put to use, stealthily sneaking pictures of unsuspecting enemies from above. This wasn’t the first time pigeons were used for military purposes, of course. Homing pigeons also used to carry messages in tiny capsules back and forth between European battle zones. They were faster than more conventional means of message delivery, and would frequently contain information about soldiers who had been made prisoners by enemies. Read more about pigeon photographers at PigeonBlog.
