Call for Bletchley Park codebreakers to crack the D-Day pigeon cipher

23 Nov 2012

Wanted for one last mission : 

call for Bletchley Park codebreakers to crack the D-Day pigeon cipher
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Historians from GCHQ are appealing for the veteran codebreakers of 
Bletchley Park to volunteer for one last act of service for their country: 
cracking the D-Day carrier pigeon cipher that has stumped Britain's finest 
minds. 

By Hannah Furness

The coded message had been carefully filed in a small red capsule and 
attached to a carrier pigeon to be delivered 70 years ago.

But instead of arriving safely at its destination, the unfortunate bird 
got stuck in a chimney en-route and lost.

The message was found by homeowner David Martin, who ripped out a 
fireplace to find the skeleton while renovating his house in Bletchingley, 
Surrey.

Historians believe the bird was almost certainly dispatched from 
Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944, during the D-Day invasions.

The mysterious message, which was written in unfamiliar code, was passed 
to Government Communications Headquarter ( GCHQ ) in Cheltenham, Glos, in 
the hope a contemporary professional codebreaker could decipher the 
words.

Today, experts have admitted they have been unable to unravel the puzzle 
without knowing more about the cryptographic context in which it was sent.

They have now appealed to retired codebreakers who worked at GCHQ's 
predecessor, Bletchley Park, and others who may have worked in military 
signals, during the war to come forward to offer their expertise.

Those who are still alive are likely to be in their nineties but their 
memories may be sharp enough to recognise the type of code used, and 
explain how it could be deciphered. ..../snip/


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9697929/Wanted-for-one-last-mission-call-for-Bletchley-Park-codebreakers-to-crack-the-D-Day-pigeon-cipher.html

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02386/pigeon-3-way_2386543c.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20456782

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9772000/9772395.stm


http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/news/docview.rhtm/675670