Would-be code crackers foxed by pigeon mystery

The code, handwritten on a small sheet of paper headed “Pigeon Service”, was found in a small red canister attached to the bird’s skeleton up a chimney at a house in Bletchingley, Surrey.

Experts from UK intelligence agency GCHQ have said the message, which has 27 five-letter code groups, is impossible to crack without its codebook.

They were also left stumped by missing details, such as the date of the message and the identities of the sender, “Sjt W Stot”, and the recipient, “X02”.

A spokesman said yesterday: “We have had about 50 people getting in touch since our request for help was published yesterday.

“They have been of varying ages, from school kids to people who were alive in the war. There have been men and women, and not just from the UK – from Holland and the USA too.

“They’re approaching it from different angles, but no-one has come through with a solution so the quest continues. It’s still early days.”

Historians believe the bird may have been dispatched from Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944, during the D-Day invasions. It is thought the destination X02 may have been Bomber Command.