Project Big Ben Explained

"Big Ben" was the World War II code name for the British project to reconstruct and evaluate captured German missiles such as the V-2 rocket.[1] On 31 July 1944, after the UK agreed to exchange Supermarine Spitfires for the wreckage of a V-2 in Sweden during World War II, experts at Farnborough began an attempt to reconstruct the missile.[2]

In late July, 1944, Operation Most III the Polish resistance movement (Armia Krajowa) succeeded in capturing an intact V2 rocket near the Pustkow Testing Centre. It had been launched for a test flight, failed but did not explode and then retrieved still intact from the Bug River, and transferred secretly to London.[3]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: McGovern, James . 1964 . Crossbow and Overcast . W. Morrow . New York . 74.
  2. Book: Collier, Basil. The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944-1945 . 1964 . 1976. The Emfield Press. Yorkshire. 0-7057-0070-4.
  3. http://www.jewishgen.org/forgottenCamps/Camps/PustEng.html Jewishgen.org: Pustkow Concentration Camp (Poland)