Winkie was a pigeon who won the Dickin Medal in 1943 for assisting in the rescue of an aircrew forced to ditch in the North Sea during the Second World War.
[1][2] During World War II, Winkie was aboard a British Bristol Beaufort when it crashed in the North Sea on 23 February 1942 as a result of being badly damaged by enemy fire following a mission to Norway.
Struggling in the freezing waters, the crew remembered Winkie, a blue chequered hen, number NEHU 40 NSL.
Winkie was set free and flew 120 miles home to Broughty Ferry, where her owner, George Ross discovered the exhausted pigeon.
The citation read "for delivering a message under exceptional difficulties and so contributing to the rescue of an Air Crew while serving with the RAF in February 1942."