Post by flyjoe180 on Nov 24, 2007 17:04:36 GMT 12
The world's first advertising billboard to be delivered by pigeon leaves Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in Blenheim on Friday aboard 289 homing pigeons.
Each of the 289 pigeons will carry a small piece of the billboard strapped to its leg. The birds will fly to Wellington where the billboard will be pieced together over a period of days in a prominent, central Wellington site.
The purpose of the billboard is to encourage Wellingtonians to visit Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre's world-class collection of World War One fighter planes over the Christmas period.
The Centre opened in December 2006, and features a collection of aircraft in lifelike exhibits created by Weta Workshop. It is widely acknowledged as one of the world's best World War One aviation experiences.
Jane Orphan from the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, said delivering the billboard by pigeon is a celebration of the important role played by homing pigeons during World War One.
"Authenticity is everything in our exhibits, so it was a natural choice to deliver our billboard to Wellington by the most authentic World War One means - homing pigeon," she said.
"Communications technology was still very rudimentary during World War One, so pigeons were used extensively for communicating to and from the battlefront. Over 100,000 pigeons were used during the war and they were incredibly reliable - 95% got through to their destinations with their messages."
The most famous homing pigeons of World War One was Cher Ami, who was awarded the French Croix de Guerre during the battle of Argonne in October 1918. Under heavy enemy fire, and despite being blinded in one eye, shot through the breast and having a leg dangling by a tendon, Cher Ami delivered a message from the front line to the US 77th Division HQ that saved 194 men of the "lost battalion".
The pigeon-posted billboard will be assembled in Wellington between now and the end of November 2007.
www.omaka.org.nz/news.shtml
Each of the 289 pigeons will carry a small piece of the billboard strapped to its leg. The birds will fly to Wellington where the billboard will be pieced together over a period of days in a prominent, central Wellington site.
The purpose of the billboard is to encourage Wellingtonians to visit Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre's world-class collection of World War One fighter planes over the Christmas period.
The Centre opened in December 2006, and features a collection of aircraft in lifelike exhibits created by Weta Workshop. It is widely acknowledged as one of the world's best World War One aviation experiences.
Jane Orphan from the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, said delivering the billboard by pigeon is a celebration of the important role played by homing pigeons during World War One.
"Authenticity is everything in our exhibits, so it was a natural choice to deliver our billboard to Wellington by the most authentic World War One means - homing pigeon," she said.
"Communications technology was still very rudimentary during World War One, so pigeons were used extensively for communicating to and from the battlefront. Over 100,000 pigeons were used during the war and they were incredibly reliable - 95% got through to their destinations with their messages."
The most famous homing pigeons of World War One was Cher Ami, who was awarded the French Croix de Guerre during the battle of Argonne in October 1918. Under heavy enemy fire, and despite being blinded in one eye, shot through the breast and having a leg dangling by a tendon, Cher Ami delivered a message from the front line to the US 77th Division HQ that saved 194 men of the "lost battalion".
The pigeon-posted billboard will be assembled in Wellington between now and the end of November 2007.
www.omaka.org.nz/news.shtml
