Project Big Ben

"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

• V-1 and V-2 Intelligence
• Home Army and V1 and V2 — Polish resistance efforts.
• Operation Crossbow
  • Operation Hydra (1943)

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