On the afternoon of Saturday 23 June 2018, the new Bombe Gallery in The National Museum of Computing will be opened by two of the original Bombe operators.
Thanks to the generosity of Crowdfunder donors, who raised more than £50,000 in March, the Bombe’s arrival was accomplished smoothly and quickly.
Visitors will be able to see the world-famous Bombe reconstruction in action and learn how it broke enemy Enigma messages during the Second World War – and compare it to the acclaimed working Colossus reconstruction and discover how it was instrumental in breaking Lorenz messages.
New virtual reconstructions of the wartime code-breaking as created by a TNMOC volunteer on a PC will also be on display.
Outside Block H, the home of The National Museum of Computing, wartime re-enactors will bring the history alive and give a sense of the wartime atmosphere.
The full museum will be open from 12 noon to 5pm and visitors will have a chance to see how wartime ingenuity kick-started the British post-war computer developments that has led to today’s digital world.
There will also be family fun features including retro computer games and quite a few other surprises in store — including cream teas!
Everyone is welcome to come to celebrate the opening of the new Bombe Gallery and to pay homage to those remarkable wartime codebreakers.
The 23 June 2018 is also the 106th anniversary of Alan Turing’s birth.
As 23 June 2018 is also International Women in Engineering Day, there will be free entry to the museum on the day for women working in computing or engineering.
