R.V. Jones tells of pigeon who delivered detailed and copious intel on German radar in 1943

In July 1943 British Bomber Command bombed the German city of Hamburg.  During these bombings Window was used to deceive the Germans about the position of British bombers.  British bombers were still shot down, but at a lower percentage rate than in previous Hamburg bombings, thanks to Window.  The British could listen to the radio telephony between the German nightfighters and the control stations at the ‘Y Service’ station at Kingsdown.  They could overhear the German frustration caused by Window.

R.V. Jones was a scientist who served in the Official Intelligence Service, specifically in Air Intelligence.  In his book Most Secret War he writes:

“It would obviously be an encouragement to our bomber crews if we could let them know something of the German reaction….German reactions, such as those we were gaining from Enigma, could not be broadcast to our crews; but fortunately a heavily-laden and very gallant pigeon arrived at its home base, having been dropped by Bomber Command somewhere in North France with my usual questionnaire.  It had been picked up by a Frenchman who had been present in one of the German nightfighter control stations, perhaps as a cleaner, and when he saw there wasa question about radar he had clearly delighted in describing the events one night in the station at le Croix Caluyau as he had witnessed them.  I have never seen a pigeon carrying such a profuse message.  It ended with the exclamation by the German Station Commander, who had spent the night trying to intercept seven hundred separate bombers without being able to locate one: ‘He would rather be attacked by a hundred bombers than submit to that torrent of paper again!’  Since no source could be compromised by this message, we were able to circulate it to Bomber Command, where the Commander’s comment was widely appreciated.”

This passage comes at the end of the Hamburg chapter.

Here is a link to a bio for R.V. Jones:

http://www.purbeckradar.org.uk/biography/jones_rv.htm

Here is the link to documentary Secret War-The Battle of the Beams on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrXXBh-15KA