WITH THANKS TO MAX TAYLOR, CAMPBELLTOWN CLUB.

The following is dedicated to Mr Len Gates who dedicated his life’s work to maintain the bloodline of UNCLE SAM.  Without his dedication his meticulously recorded history of this remarkable line of racing pigeons and the records maintained by him which assisted greatly in the compiling of this history would have resulted in the loss of this pool of genes to Australia and the world racing pigeon fancy.

This is the story of one of the greatest lines of pigeons that has ever been introduced into Australia.  Considering that we have had the best of the British pigeons, including Harrisons, Logans, Dukes etc.  and the very best of pigeons from the continent, including Jansens, Daudens, etc; which have arrived into Australia by various means, this remarkable line of pigeons has proved so superior to these excellent imported pigeons at distances from 200 to 800 miles.

Some of Australia’s best flyers have obtained these pigeons that have been their major federation winners and claimed that they were part of their own family of pigeons.  This line has dominated up to today in NSW, VIC, SA, QLD and WA.  Where did this line come from and what family of pigeons does it belong to?  In two words UNCLE SAM.

UNCLE SAM and his mother SIGHLIDE were imported into Australia in 1923 from Dr Shilling in America by Mr Bushel of Ashfield in Sydney.  This pair were mated together, with unknown results.

In 1925 UNCLE SAM and SIGHLIDE were purchased by Mr Ted Chester of Brisbane at Mr Bushells sale and these two pigeons were mated together and several birds were bred from them and placed into a special section of his loft.  As Mr Chester could not read or write no records were kept.  It was his inability to read of write that eventually lead to his being fined for having the wrong number on an entry sheet the result of which he no longer wished to participate in the sport.

His longtime friend Mr Bill Charmers assisted him in his breeding and racing of his pigeons and it is from this knowledgeable gentleman that the beginning of the history of this family can be told.

The birds from this mating were placed in a section of the loft and it was found that they had an inability to race being from an old hen and her son.  These pigeons were predominantly smutty blue checkers and as they were inbred they produced smutty to smokey blue bars with the occasional pied.  It was from these pigeons that the UNCLE SAM line was instigated.
UNCLE SAM was also mated to the best hen available in Brisbane at the time the result of which was a winning strain of distance pigeons which became known as the Bowen Blues.  These were predominantly Blue Bar Pieds and dominated distance races.

Ted Chester allowed only eleven pigeons from the pure UNCLE SAM line to go to any other lofts.  The first three of these pigeons went to Mr Fletcher and because of reasons only known to that gentleman no other person was to know who obtained them except Mr Charmers.  Mr Charmers had a cockbird he obtained from Mr Hickey’s line known as COMBAT and Mr Vic Fletcher was to obtain only hens by daughters of UNCLE SAM from this cock.  COMBAT was a smaller pigeon than the UNCLE SAM line being a line that threw black checkers, reds with black through them and the occasional pied.

Mr Fletcher then obtained a grandson of Combat by a daughter of UNCLE SAM from Ron Scott and called him OLD BOY and he was mated to one of the daughters of UNCLE SAM Mr Fletcher obtained from Mr Chester.

It was from the pairing of these two pigeons and their progeny that Vic Fletcher bred numerous Federation winners in Brisbane and Sydney and during this period he and Mr Chester dominated distance flying in Brisbane even against the famous English Harrisons imported by Mr Knoblauch.

The O’Toole Bros. were able to obtain a daughter of OLD BOY and it mated to a son of OLD BOY by a daughter of UNCLE SAM bred their line of smash winners.
Contrary to all catalogues, OLD BOY was not a son of COMBAT but a grandson inbred to daughters of UNCLE SAM.  All the pigeons which show in catalogues as being from COMBAT could only be from the UNCLE SAM line from Vic Fletcher as Mr Charmers stated that there were no pigeons of COMBAT from any other source.  Other champion pigeons from this line include Tick Eye, The Bibby Cock, The Red Ringer and the Burke Hen.

The second three pigeons from UNCLE SAM’S were purchased by Mr Clarry Latchford of Melbourne in the presence of Mr Ron Scott, Mr Herb Knoblauch and Mr Bill Charmers from Mr Chester.  The Balf line is from a pigeon obtained by Ron Scott from Mr Latchford and Ron Scotts original number one pair were also pigeons from the UNCLE SAM line from Ted Chester.  Mr Knoblauchs pigeons of the UNCLE SAM line obtained from his friend Mr Latchford became the Knoblauch Miracle Harrisons.

The next two birds from the UNCLE SAM line were those obtained by Bill Charmers from the very best of Ted Chesters UNCLE SAM line and given to Tom McManus and became known as the Randall line.  This wonderful line of pigeons from the Randall line have dominated middle and distance pigeon racing in Brisbane and other states for the last 40 years.  Pigeons from Randall UNCLE SAM line have won major distance federation in all states of Australia up until 1991.

Mr Tom Gollager obtained a bird from Ted Chester also from the UNCLE SAM line being a brother to the Charmers cocks and pigeons from this line have won numerous distance Federation races in Brisbane. The famous Coulton Blue Bar Cock line in NSW was reportedly of the UNCLE SAM line of Vic Fletcher.

Listed below are a selection of pigeon fliers in Brisbane whose performance at the distance can be attributed to the UNCLE SAM line on which they have based the majority of their winning middle and distance pigeons, some producing remarkable performances that is common to the UNCLE SAM line such as the smash winners, race point record holders and night fliers and almost without exception all of these gentleman were average fliers before obtaining the UNCLE SAM’S.

Ron Scott, Herb Knoblauch, O’Toole Bros, Bob Watton, Noel Randall, Russel Beetham, Rod Hatherly, Vic Fletcher, Ted Chester, Stanley Parks or in other words the domination of Federation Average point winners for the last 60 years in Brisbane.  In fact the Uncle Sam’s have dominated distance racing on three continents including America as the Trenton line, in Australia as the old Brisbane Family and in Europe these pigeons from the Randall UNCLE SAM’S have been flown by Mr Bill Tracy before his death, outperformed the English pigeons and won several races.

This is a brief background to the UNCLE SAM line of pigeons which will give some insight into this remarkable family of racing pigeons.

UNCLE SAM AMERICA NO E 1916 ring no 4396 BCC
Bred by Mr G Lentz, Fort Wayne Texas.
Performance
1916 as a youngster flew 100,200, 300, 500 miles
1917 flew 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1011 miles, breaking world 1000 miles record for a yearling.
1918 flew 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1011 miles twice, being the first pigeon in the world to fly 1000 miles in one season.

He is a long caste pigeon and possesses the finest flights and wing I have seen on a pigeon of his size.