The

The From the home of the codebreakers and the birthplace of modern computing, this is the Bletchley Park podcast.

Welcome to the March 2025 episode of the Bletchley Park podcast.

Vengeance from the skies.

In 1943, there seemed to be few mysteries left unsolved for Bletchley Park.

But by the middle of that year, whispers would be heard of new threats, the V1 flying bomb and V2 rocket.

What began with hints of secret trials on the Baltic would grow into an investigation which would strain allied scientific intelligence to the utmost, as well as revealing

serious flaws in the operation at Bletchley Park.

But by the time Vengeance weapon attacks against the United Kingdom began in 1944, the

Allies knew what they were facing, enabling countermeasures to be put in place, which, despite the immense destruction

the weapons caused, likely saved thousands of lives. In this It Happened Here episode,

Head of Audiences and Programs, Vicky Pipe, is joined by research officer Dr Thomas Cheatham

to discuss the secret weapons which represented Nazi Germany's last gasp attempt

to turn the tide of World War II.

This episode features oral history recordings of Waf filter officer Eileen Younghusband.

Many thanks to Dr Ben Thompson for voicing our archival documents. This is Bletchley Park. It happened here.

Tom, this month's episode is focusing on V-Weapons. Why have we chosen that topic?

We thought it was an appropriate time to deal with the subject because it was about 80 years ago when the last V weapon launches

took place towards the end of the war. So my very first question is, what were V weapons?

Right. So from about 1943 through to the end of the war, you have a new threat on the horizon

for the Allies, which is two new systems which are employed by the Germans, kind of Wunder Vaffin, wonder weapons.

There is a V1 which is also known as the flying bomb, and effectively it's a cruise missile,

...