Thursday
Private dinner with wine and talk by Dr Mark Baldwin "The Enigma and the Battle of the Atlantic". Mark will bring his own rare four-rotor Enigma machine for guests to examine (April and October only). The September talk shall be given by Dr Joel Greenberg, "From Polish Bomba to British Bombe". He explians how it was the Poles, before the war broke out, who had made the initial breakthrough with the Enigma machine, giving credit to Rejewski, Rozycki and Zygalski who handed over their work to the Bletchley Park team.

Friday
Private morning visit to the Intelligence Musuem which was an RAF Y station, intercepting the German Air Force strategic wireless network. Y Stations, many consisting of short wave enthusiasts were the ears of Bletchley Park. In the afternoon we visit Bletchley Park with a light lunch (included), talk and guided tour by expert John Pether. Bletchley is the home of the famous Enigma code breakers, who Winston Churchill described as "his silent geese who laid the golden eggs and never cackled".

Saturday
Visit RAF Tempsford, Churchill's most secret airfield. This was home to the 'Secret Special Duties Squadron' which flew SOE Agents and supplies for resistance forces during WWII. Although Hitler knew of its existence and said, "find this viper's nest and obliterate it" the Germans were never able to find its location in order to bomb it and many of its secrets were only released from the Official Secrets List in 1998. Whilst at RAF Tempsford, we visit Gibraltar Farm which was the Agents final dispatch point. Gibraltar Farm Barn was built deliberately to look like a normal farm barn to fool German air-reconnaissance and was where agents were supplied with their equipment and their poison pills, in case of capture. The barn contains several plaques and memorials to the agents, both men and women who were killed after being captured and tortured. Then it is on to Shuttleworth Old Warden Collection which has a superb collection of vintage aircraft from WWI and WWII. Whilst here, you will be accompanied by guides who will take you to see the SOE configured Lysander and talk about its SOE usage. There will also be some time set aside for you to view some of the historic aircraft collection in the hanger. Your visit includes a soup and sandwich lunch and tea/coffee.

Final visit before returning to your hotel is to Carpetbagger Aviation Musuem, Harrington of the USAAF's 801st/492nd Bomb Group, (the musuem displays and exhibits the history of the airfield and vividly shows the work carried out by the 801st (Provisional)/492nd Bomb Group, especially during Operation Carpetbagger, and their secret missions to deliver agents and supplies to resistance groups in occupied Europe). Other Exhibits and displays include the secret work of the British Special Operations Executive from their RAF based at Tempsford; the cold war roles of the airfield at Harrington with the Thor rockets; and the Royal Observer Corps.

NB: Exact order of itinerary may vary according to local conditions and tour managers discretion.

Please note the maximum group size on this tour is 49 passengers.

Please note that in order to visit the Intelligence Museum you will need to provide you passport details to us at the time of booking. You will also need to bring your passport along on the day of the visit in order to access the museum site.

Northampton Marriott Hotel
Located close to J15 of the M1, the modern, 4-star Northampton Marriott Hotel offers a bar, restaurant, indoor pool, gym and comfortable bedrooms with private bath/shower, TV and telephone.

Hilton Northampton (1st August 2013)

Located ten minutes drive from Northampton centre, the 4-star Hilton Northampton Hotel offers a restaurant, bar, indoor pool and comfortable bedrooms with private bath/shower, TV and telephone.