On 23 February 1942, a crew of an RAF Beaufort bomber was returning from a mission over Norway, but the plane had been severly hit by enemy fire and the pilot was forced to ditch into the North Sea.
Struggling in freezing waters - unable to radio an accurate position back to base - the crew faced certain death.
But as the aircraft went down, the crew had managed to salvage their secret weapon - a carrier pigeon named Winkie. As a last resort, Winkie was set free in the hope it could fly back to base.
During World War II, carrier pigeons were routinely carried by RAF bombers for this very eventuality.
Winkie flew 120 miles back to base. He was discovered, exhausted and covered in oil, by owner George Ross who immediately informed RAF Leuchars in Fife.
The pigeon was not carrying a message, but the RAF was able to calculate the position of the downed aircraft using the time difference between the plane's ditching and the arrival of the bird - taking into account the wind direction and even the impact of the oil on Winkie's feathers to her flight speed.
A rescue mission was launched and within 15 minutes the crew's position had been located and a rescue vessel dispatched.
Winkie became the toast of the air base, with a dinner held in her honour. A year later, she became the first animal to receive the Dickin Medal.
Photo with Winkie and the crew he saved.
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