A pigeon-guided missile system from World War 2

The renowned behaviorist BF Skinner created a pigeon-operated missile guidance system for use during World War II. Through conditioning, the pigeons were taught to peck at particular images they saw while in flight. The pecks turned on sensors, which guided the missile in the direction of the target. Though Skinner claimed to have made substantial headway training the pigeons, the program was ultimately abandoned in October 1944 without having conducted any successful testing. He reproached the military for not treating the undertaking seriously.

The Smithsonian has a nose cone created by Skinner and his collaborators. Three distinct compartments, one pigeon each, made up Skinner's design. The lateral, longitudinal, and vertical axes of flight were each controlled by a different pigeon. Despite having obvious flight expertise, the pigeons frequently overreacted to stimuli during the studies by either pecking excessively or not at all. In one experiment, a pigeon pecked more than 10,000 times in a 45-minute period, according to Skinner's records. Although the Smithsonian's nose cone is not currently on public display, pictures of the experimental guidance system can be found online.