Throughout history, homing pigeons have been used to carry messages over long distances. Homing pigeons can find their way home over very long distances. Because of this special ability, homing pigeons have often been used in wars to carry messages. For example, air force flyers could carry homing pigeons in their planes. If a plane started to crash, the airmen could throw the pigeon out of the plane with a message attached to its leg saying where the plane was crashing. The pigeon would find its way back "home" - to a military base - where the message would tell the military where to look for their stranded pilots.