E71 - The Bombe Breakthrough

April 2018

A brand new exhibition telling the story of the Bombe machines has opened in Hut 11a, where they were housed during World War Two.

Hundreds of Bombe machines were made and operated at both Bletchley Park and its outstations. This exhibition tells the story of how this incredible technological breakthrough came to be, and the stories of the people whose ingenuity and hard work made them both a reality and a success.

This episode takes you to the official opening of the exhibition, by Bletchley Park’s Royal Patron, HRH The Duke of Kent KG. We met the Veteran Bombe operators Brenda Abrahams and Jean Marshall, Reg Young who built the machines and Margaret Bullen who worked in the Newmanry.

We also hear from the Polish Ambassador to the UK, Arkady Rzegocki, who was an honoured guest at the launch, along with the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister, Bartosz Cichocki and Olga Topol from the Jozef Piłsudski Institute in London. They were there to celebrate the story of the Polish mathematicians whose breathtaking pre-war achievements in breaking Enigma gave the Government Code and Cypher School a huge head start, once war broke out.

Also in this episode, we hear how important this new exhibition is in the ongoing restoration of Bletchley Park, from the staff who created the new exhibition, Chief Executive Iain Standen and Trustee, Sir John Dermot Turing, whose uncle, Alan Turing, along with Gordon Welchman, invented the Bombe.

Image: ©Andy Stagg

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2, #Poland