( CNN ) -- Not even the British spy agencies that inspired James Bond can solve the mystery of a secret World War II message recently found on the skeleton of a carrier pigeon in a house chimney . The meaning of the encoded message apparently died about 70 years ago with the wayward pigeon that David Martin found in his smokestack in Bletchingley , Surrey County , England . Martin recently discovered the bird 's remains with the surprisingly intact message inside a small red canister attached to a leg bone . The only hope appears to be curators at the Pigeon Museum at Bletchley Park , who are now trying to trace the origins of two alphanumeric identifiers for the pigeon that were also written on the message , the UK intelligence agency GCHQ said this week . `` If they are identified and their wartime service established , it could help to decode the message , '' the agency said about the pigeon 's identity numbers . To the casual reader , the message is indecipherable . Hand-written on a small piece of paper labeled `` Pigeon Service , '' the note consists of five-letter words . Those words do n't make sense : The jumble begins with `` AOAKN '' and `` HVPKD . '' In all , the message consists of 27 five-letter code groups . Read the full encoded message ( PDF ) Deciphering the message requires codebooks and possibly a `` one-time pad '' encryption system , and those materials `` will normally have been destroyed once no longer in use , '' the agency said . There is a small chance that a codebook survived . `` Without access to the relevant codebooks and details of any additional encryption used , it will remain impossible to decrypt , '' the agency said . The one-time pad encryption gave the note added security . A random key is used to encrypt only one message . `` The advantage of this system is that , if used correctly , it is unbreakable as long as the key is kept secret , '' the agency said . `` The disadvantage is that both the sending and receiving parties need to have access to the same key , which usually means producing and sharing a large keypad in advance . '' Heightening the mystery are three other issues : The message is undated , the meaning of its destination of `` X02 '' is unknown , and analysts ca n't identify the sender 's signature or his unit . `` Unfortunately , much of the vital information that would indicate the context of the message is missing , '' the intelligence service said . Coded notes : A whodunit without an answer . The sender 's sign-off appears to say `` Sjt W Stot , '' using an abbreviation for `` serjeant , '' an old-fashioned spelling for `` sergeant , '' the agency said . The use of `` Sjt '' links the message to the army , the spy agency said . `` If 'Sjt Stot ' and addressee X02 could be identified , it could give us a better idea of where to look for the information , '' the agency said . About 250,000 pigeons were used during World War II by all branches of the military and the Special Operations Executive , the UK intelligence agency said . Flying from mainland Europe to Britain , the birds heroically delivered all sorts of messages through a gauntlet of enemy hawk patrols and potshots from soldiers . `` Although it is disappointing that we can not yet read the message brought back by a brave carrier pigeon , it is a tribute to the skills of the wartime code-makers that , despite working under severe pressure , they devised a code that was undecipherable both then and now , '' said GCHQ , one of three UK intelligence agencies . Code talker from World War II dies .
The skeleton of a World War II carrier pigeon is found in a man 's chimney in England . Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: Meanwhile , a pigeon museum seeks clues in the bird 's identification numbers .