Today we had a plan. We left the Temple Grafton Layby and spent a couple of hours at the nearby McDonalds for their internet. Next to this Macca's is a service station with a jet wash — so we gave Gertie a treat.
We first made for Hut 4 and the cafe there. It was lunch time, so we treated ourselves to pretty authentic World War II nosh. As we came out, we had an encounter with a cute little grey squirrel!
We went over to a new display in Hut 12. They have been doing a lot of research and archaeology around the site, and here they display some if their finds. One of these was a Banbury sheet. Banbury sheets, invented by Alan Turing, were several feet long and had columns of letters printed vertically on them. Women punched holes in the sheet to correspond with letters in the Enigma message and then moved the sheets over each other looking for sequences. A large number of repeats of the same letter suggested that the messages had been enciphered at the same position on the machine. These sheets were of no use after the decipherment had proceeded, so were routinely destroyed. For this reason, none of them remained for display -- until, in the examination of the remains of one of the huts, they found a few of these where they had been stuffed into the cracks to keep out the winter drafts!
Then we went over into the mansion. This was the headquarters building during the war, and many of the rooms have been left set up as if their occupants had just stepped out for lunch - in fact, in the typewriters are hand-written notes saying 'Gone to lunch. Don't touch my typewriter!" and signed by the occupant of that desk.
But in the back of the mansion was a surprise. Parts of The Imitation Game were actually filmed at Bletchley, and there was an exhibit in the mansion's ballroom of costumes, props and sets from the movie. The set for the pub scenes was there, and one of the prop bombes used in the movie — but the functioning bombe seen in the movie is the actual reconstructed bombe that they demonstrate every day in Block B.
There's also a room here devoted to the virtually unsung hero of Bletchley. We often hear about Alan Turing, but who knows of Gordon Welchman? He is called the 'Architect of Ultra Intelligence'. Welchman's enhancement of the bombe, the 'diagonal board' allowed the plugboard settings to be added to the bombe settings, making the cracking of the Enigma code much more efficient. It was the discovery of these plugboard settings that were the first step in the whole process — once these had been determiined (by brilliant human detective work) and set up on the bombe, the whole task from there was automatic. The whole operation of Hut 6 was the discovery of those plugboard settings — but that's a story for another day!
The diagonal board behind
the reconstructed bombe in Block B
By this time, the day was coming to an end — the days are getting shorter here) so we adjourned to our Shucklow Hill layby out towards Buckingham for the night. (We first tried a campsite, but they didn't respond to their bell, so we gave up.)
Distance driven — today, 81 miles ( 130 km ); to date, 30,820 miles ( 49,600 km )
Loved the Bletchley Circle series, they were both great. Good to see you having another look at England's great wartime secret place. I love Foyle too. I guess they were the days of my early childhood. I remember the planes flying low overhead with the airmen sitting in the doorways to wave to every one below the day the war ended. I was 3 and ran inside to tell Mum but she said I musn't tell fibs! So I didn't tell her much anymore after that. Love ya Cathy
ReplyDeleteNice story Cathy.
DeleteLove these pics, those typewriters make me drool!
ReplyDelete