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andyjohnson0

According to this [1] article the message reads:

AOAKN HVPKD FNFJW YIDDC

RQXSR DJHFP GOVFN MIAPX

PABUZ WYYNP CMPNW HJRZH

NLXKG MEMKK ONOIB AKEEQ

WAOTA RBQRH DJOFM TPZEH

LKXGH RGGHT JRZCQ FNKTQ

KLDTS FQIRW AOAKN 27 1525/6

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9697929/Wante...

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Hi there :-)

I read the message slightly differently (I believe some of the supposed 'w's are 'u's and one of your 'F' s is I believe a 'G'. As follows:

AOAKN HVPKD FNFJW YIDDC RQXSR DJHFP GOVFN MIAPX PABUZ WYYNP CMPNW HJRZH NLXKG MEMKK ONOIB AKEEQ UAOTA RBQRH DJOFM TPZEH LKXGH RGGHT JRZCQ FNKTQ KLDTS GQIRW AOAKN

Also do you know who 'Mason' is? Maybe the person who sent in the photo? Is this a recruiting sergeant for GCHQ? :-))

Not being a code breaker myself what relevance does AOAKN have? Beginning and end of message.

This pigeon was found in a chimney - what can we learn from that? What was the procedure when a message was sent but not received? This can be solved :-)

One time pads are mathematically provably secure. So, if it's a one time pad then we may not be able to solve this. There are some possibilities. If there's enough information with the pigeon and the message to find the original other half of the pad the message may be decrypted.

i'd be consistent and consider FNFJW to be actually FNFJU ;)

This is the occurence of each leter in the message:

K = 10; N = 9; A = 9; H = 8; R = 8; F = 7; P = 7; O = 7; D = 6; Q = 6; M = 5; J = 5; G = 5; W = 5; T = 5; X = 4; E = 4; Z = 4; I = 4; C = 3; B = 3; L = 3; Y = 3; V = 2; S = 2; U = 1

Doesn't seem like a trully random (white-noise) distribution.

Those counts look fairly typical from a uniform distribution to me. There are fancy tests you could do, but to get a feel for it, I suggest simulation and eyeballing. Add up the counts after drawing 135 characters from a uniform character distribution 20 times, and compare the sorted lists of counts to this set of numbers after sorting.

Somehow the really random distributions look less random than ones biased towards flattening-out. Within 500 truly random points in a square you'll see suspiciously looking clusters of points, choose 5 in each of the 10x10 subsquares and suddenly it looks much more "random".

Edit: A bookmarklet to display some random points in a square, tested in Firefox 10 only:

javascript:"<html><body><canvas id=\"tutorial\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\">foo</canvas><script>var canvas = document.getElementById('tutorial');var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');ctx.fillStyle = \"rgb(000,0,0)\";for (var i=0;i<150;i++) {ctx.fillRect (Math.random() * 150,Math.random() * 150, 2, 2); };</script></body></html>"

...and one showing true random and flattened random side by side:

javascript:"<html><body><canvas id=\"tutorial\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\">foo</canvas><-><canvas id=\"tutorial2\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\">foo</canvas><script>var canvas = document.getElementById('tutorial');var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');ctx.fillStyle = \"rgb(000,0,0)\";for (var i=0;i<400;i++) {ctx.fillRect (Math.random() * 200,Math.random() * 200, 2, 2); };</script><script>var canvas = document.getElementById('tutorial2');var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');ctx.fillStyle = \"rgb(000,0,0)\";for (var i=0;i<20;i++) for(var j=0;j<20;j++) for(k=0;k<1;k++) {ctx.fillRect (i * 10 + Math.random() * 10, j * 10 + Math.random() * 10, 2, 2); };</script></body></html>"

Wow, you're right. The random distribution looks far more "meaningful".

You might want to look into the "incidence of coincidence", which is the probability that letters from two randomly chosen text's are the same. It can be changed to measure a single message, and gives a distinctive difference for english vs. random texts.

When the news first broke, redditors did a pretty impressive analysis: http://en.reddit.com/r/cryptography/comments/12jipi/ww2_pige...

I'd place my money on this comment: "Poem code with AOAKN being the indicator group, 27 representing the block count and 1525/6 being a page or line number."

Interesting point about the indicator-group at the start and end. But I thought poem codes were mainly used for under-cover situations where having a physical copy of the key could be compromising. Why then is this message written on an official-looking message pad with "Pigeon Service" printed at the top? That seems incongruous to me.

The chaos of WWII can easily be enough of an explanation. I guess I would argue that the repeat of AOAKN is a good indication of a poem code, more than the official pad can dissuade me.

AOAKN seems like greetings or best wishes, in some languages we use same initial and ending for greetings.

The template and the font used in the paper does not seems like typewriter print but LaserJet printer. specially the font used in the words on the top "PIGEON SERVICE". does not seems like printed with a typewriter.

The war's secret message are supposed not to use a single english readable words. Here we see some english words like "TO", FORM. Date, Reply, originator, copies, sender, signature. Why these words are not encrypted.

I think Tirpitz,Gough,Gulag are mentioned.Frigates also. CQ=help(before current SOS signal) KN=in the King's Name but the Arabic possible. The flat bottomed U may refer to a 'reed'-read Also St Nazaire France was a base for carrier pigeons in WWII. Operation Chariot?

Point: There was a proposed D Day in August 1942 which was called off - hence OK for Operation Chariot March 28th 1942. Also CMPWN - Campbeltown? See Call of Duty Failed D Day. It is a SPOOF - albeit a good one. Not to say it is indecipherable.

I don't thing FNFJW is correct, I think it's a U. There is another very definite W written in the note, and it looks nothing like the square-ish looking U in a couple of other places.

when a paper is folded in a 1 1/8 cylinder for 70 years there should be wrinkles marks on the paper.

A capsule was owned by the family of the soldier who brought it home in 1918

http://www.interbug.com/pigeon/messaging/photos/wwi_british_...

You are all being so clever. What is wrong with our suggestion?

AOA could mean Asalam-O-Aliquem kn=koran hi or hello in English

Or else a sophisticated plug for 'Call of Duty'?

"Hitler is evil take him out" Nailed it

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