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

IF 1 1区历史学 Q1 HISTORY

History and Technology Pub Date : 2021-04-03 DOI:10.1080/07341512.2021.1898896

Alice Shackelford Clifton-Morekis

引用次数: 0

Abstract

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.

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前线家禽:信鸽作为美国陆军的通信技术

在电子通信技术的发展使鸽子在许多情况下已经过时很久之后，美国陆军通信队从1917年到1957年一直维持着一个信使鸽子的通信项目。这篇文章介绍了信鸽服务的历史，作为一个技术的坚持和创新。它认为信鸽在第一次世界大战、第二次世界大战和朝鲜战争中对美军仍然非常有用，主要是作为与电子设备协同工作的备份或紧急通信手段。它表明，战争的物理和社会环境创造了对这种“低技术”系统的频繁需求。文章进一步指出，战场内外的物理和社会环境的某些变化鼓励了该计划的解体。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

History and Technology HISTORY-

CiteScore

1.60

自引率

16.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： History and Technology serves as an international forum for research on technology in history. A guiding premise is that technology—as knowledge, practice, and material resource—has been a key site for constituting the human experience. In the modern era, it becomes central to our understanding of the making and transformation of societies and cultures, on a local or transnational scale. The journal welcomes historical contributions on any aspect of technology but encourages research that addresses this wider frame through commensurate analytic and critical approaches.