The Pigeon Camera = Old Fashioned Spy Satellite!
I found this interesting snippet about The Pigeon Camera in a local paper.
Back before anyone had thought of trying to send satellites into space, Pigeons were often sent on missions to take aerial photos across a pre-determined route. Pigeon Cameras were the spy satellites of the early 1900s!
The Pigeon Camera – Very Rudimentary!
A Pigeon Camera could easily be strapped to the bird, and a shutter speed was selected to capture an image every few seconds. In some images, one could see the bird’s wings at the edge of the photo.
This seems so cumbersome now, with the advent of Google Earth!
Where to see The Pigeon Camera
You can also see a sample Pigeon Camera at the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. in the States.
I guess it’s a bit different to today’s Digital Cameras!
Check more at The Cold War Pigeon Patrols: And Other Animal Spies (24/7: Science Behind the Scenes)
