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WELCOME to the Airship Loft website.  Hopefully you have an interest in the Sport/Hobby of pigeon racing. This site is intended to be an informational source to novices and a place for other racing pigeon fanciers to browse my almost lifelong participation in the Sport.  I am very open to corresponding with interested people via e-mail. See "Race Results" page for contact information.  Please use "Airship Loft" in the subject line so I may retreive the message in case it ends up in my "Spam Folder".

For those unfamiliar with the sport, let me explain how a pigeon race is conducted.  Clubs are chartered by one of the two national organizations in the USA (The IF or AU).  A minimum of five members are required to conduct an "official race".  Each competing loft has it's GPS coordinates registered prior to the race series.  Here in America, two race series per year are conducted.  In the Spring (March-June) the Old Bird (OB) series is conducted for birds one year old or older flying races of 150 to 500 miles in distance.  In the Fall (September-November) the Young Bird (YB) races are held for birds born and banded in the current year in races from 100 to 300 miles.  After initial training by their owner, birds are entered in the race by putting them into shipping crates with birds entered by fellow club members.  The birds are then hauled by truck/trailer to the release point.  When the birds are released, usually the following morning, the GPS coordinates of the release point are recorded and the "race is on".  Each bird will return to it's individual home and the time of arrival is recorded (usually electronically).  We now have the two factors necessary (distance flown and time flown) to "calculate" the speed of each bird.  A computer program is used to determine the speed of each bird in Yards Per Minute.  The bird with the fastest speed wins!!

For novices let me explain the awarding of AU Diplomas (The American Racing Pigeon Union).  The top 5% of birds competing in a race are awarded an AU Diploma i.e. 100 birds entered, the 1st through 5th placed birds in the race are awarded an AU Diploma.  A mimimum of five lofts (individuals) must compete in a race for AU Diplomas to be awarded.   

Please "browse" the pages of this site and Welcome to the facinating Sport/Hobby of pigeon racing!!