"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

References

  1. ^ McGovern, James (1964). Crossbow and Overcast. New York: W. Morrow. p. 74.
  2. ^ Collier, Basil (1976) [1964]. The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944-1945. Yorkshire: The Emfield Press. ISBN 0-7057-0070-4.
  3. ^ Jewishgen.org: Pustkow Concentration Camp (Poland) . retrieve 5.15.2013

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