Training pigeons to earn their ‘wings’ as messengers from airborne Navy craft is the unique duty of a small number of WAVES serving at air stations throughout the U.S. during World War II. Enclosed in a wood and canvas crate, two pigeon ‘trainees’ are taken aboard a gondola of a blimp by Seaman Second Class Robert Gumz as Specialists Virginia Thomas (left) and Ethel Haberman anxiously bid their winged charges Godspeed and best of luck on their training mission.
