Students become Codebreakers for the day at Bletchley Park

Five RNC students became Codebreakers for the day when they visited Bletchley Park, the main centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. They were treated to a touch tour, which included using an original Enigma cipher machine (worth £250k).

Pictured: The group of students outside Bletchley Manor

They also used mathematics to calculate the number of possible outcomes for the Enigma machine (over a sentillion - 21 zeros - per day!).

Next they learned some of the tricks Alan Turing and the team at Bletchley used to crack the code and were able to see a replica of the Bombe decoder machine that was built to do this.


Pictured: Hazal by the replica Bombe decoder machine  

The students also listened to an audio film about the contribution of Bletchley Park to the D-Day landings and the ending of World War II.

The day ended with a look around Bletchley Manor House, and some of the huts the Codebreakers used, giving an idea of what it was like to work in wartime Bletchley Park.


Pictured: Matteo and Hazal explore the Enigma machine


Pictured: Sonali and Fionn explore the Enigma machine
 


Pictured L-R: Hazal, Sonali, Fionn and Matteo in front of a D Day memorial
 


Pictured L-R: Fionn, Matteo, Hazal and Sonali stand around the memorial for the Bletchley Park employees. The large letters read 'We also served'.