Wartime Britain

The inside story of the code-breakers and the Battle of Britain

3 Days From $1,045pp Departing Jun ‘21, Apr & Sep ‘22 Activity Level

This tour explores the nerve centers of the Battle of Britain; at the HQ of RAF Fighter Command, Bentley Priory and the Uxbridge Bunker, from where Air Vice-Marshal Park controlled the fight to protect London and the southeast of England. We begin, however, at the ultra-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park.

Tour Highlights

• Guided tour of Bletchley Park grounds where the ‘huts’ used by the codebreakers have been reconstructed • Visit Air Chief Marshal Dowding’s office at Bentley Priory, from which he masterminded the air defense of Great Britain • See RAF Fighter Command’s No.11 Group Operations Room Bunker, the nerve center of the Battle of Britain

Day One | Milton Keynes & St. Albans Today we meet at our hotel, where our Guide Lecturer Colonel Paul Beaver will give a welcome lecture on double agents prior to dinner. Day Two | Bletchley Park We spend all day exploring Bletchley Park, where we will discuss the history and the ingenuity of the code-breakers who worked in this, the center of the Government Code and Cypher School. It is estimated that the so-called ultra intelligence gathered in this Victorian country house, separated from the outside world, shortened the war by at least two years. With the development of Colossus, the first programmable electronic digital computer, the work carried out here also paved the way for the digital world that followed the war. We will visit the huts where the Enigma and Lorenz cypher machines were cracked as well as the National Museum of Computing housed in Block H, the latest of the huts built in Bletchley that housed a number of Colossus computers developed by Tommy Flowers. Dinner will feature a special guest presenter. Day Three | Stanmore & Uxbridge This day is dedicated to the fateful Battle of Britain, whose success helped to determine the outcome of the war. We start in Stanmore, at the Bentley Priory Museum, once an Augustinian priory, subsequently an estate designed by Sir John Soane and the headquarters of the RAF Fighter Command during the Second World War. Here, we explore its role during those fateful summer and autumn months in 1940 during the Battle of Britain, when ‘the Few’, the fighter pilots under the command of ACM Sir Hugh Dowding, spearheaded the defense against the German attacks. After lunch, we travel to Uxbridge to visit the Uxbridge Battle of Britain Bunker, which housed the RAF Fighter Command’s No. 11 Group Operations Room Bunker and was the nerve center of the Battle of Britain. We will explore this remarkable piece of living history as well as the museum of the Battle attached to it.

Guided by Colonel Paul Beaver

A member of No 601 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force, Paul formerly worked as a freelance war correspondent.

Price includes

• Expert Guide Lecturer & Professional Tour Manager • Entries to all sites as per the itinerary • All taxes & gratuities Included travel

• All local transport Accommodation

• Accommodation at the St. Michael’s Manor Hotel, St.

Albans Culinary inclusions

• 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches & 2 dinners • Water with all meals, wine & tea or coffee with dinner

Dates & prices per person

Date Twin/Dbl Share SS 7th - 9th Jun ‘21 $1,045 $245 4th - 6th Apr ’22 $1,155 12th - 14th Sep ’22 $1,155 $260 $260