Ministry of Defence
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D-Day veteran dusts off top-secret equipment
An RAF veteran has visited Bletchley Park to see the top-secret kit he used to direct aircraft over Normandy following the D-Day landings.
Ahead of the D-Day 70th Anniversary in June, retired sergeant Bernard Morgan went to see the once-classified Type X machine at the Bletchley Park heritage site in Buckinghamshire. While there, the 90-year-old veteran met one of his modern day equivalents, Flight Lieutenant Vikki Thorpe, an RAF aerospace battle manager.
In the summer of 1944, Sergeant Morgan had used the Type X machine to encrypt highly sensitive messages that told RAF aircraft where they were needed for immediate action.
The RAF’s air superiority before, during and after D-Day was pivotal because it meant the Allied invasion could take place largely unchallenged from above by the Luftwaffe or by U-boats from below.
The Type X machines were large and heavy, requiring 4 men to carry them, and needed a lorry each to transport and power them.
