0:00:04 > 0:00:08The Spitfire is a great British icon.
0:00:08 > 0:00:13It helped win the Battle of Britain and defeat Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20This beautiful bird was a bird of destruction to the Germans, which is why we won the war.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24But the Spitfire was more than just a fighter plane.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28It was Britain's eyes in the sky.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Painted blue and armed with cameras rather than guns and bombs,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37spy planes took tens of millions of aerial photographs.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42The story of air intelligence
0:00:42 > 0:00:45was one of the most important stories of the war.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49A crack team of sleuths at RAF Medmenham
0:00:49 > 0:00:52pieced together a vast jigsaw of clues from these photos.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57But what the Germans didn't realise
0:00:57 > 0:01:00was that they weren't just working in two dimensions.
0:01:00 > 0:01:07The photo detective's secret weapon was a simple stereoscope,
0:01:07 > 0:01:13which brought to life every contour of the enemy landscape in perfect 3D.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16In 3D, the first thing you can get - height.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19And at the same time you can measure very effectively, the width.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27Battlefield Europe was recreated on the viewing tables of RAF Medmenham,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30probing every hillside, railway line, ship,
0:01:30 > 0:01:36building and most importantly, every unidentified new structure.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41Modern computer graphics,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43based on the original World War II photographs,
0:01:43 > 0:01:48show just how the Nazi world was analysed in 3D.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56You had to have a real terrier-like approach to sort of,
0:01:56 > 0:02:00"We'll find out what this is, come hell or high water."
0:02:03 > 0:02:09RAF Medmenham's finest hour would come into with Operation Crossbow
0:02:09 > 0:02:15when it hunted down and identified Hitler's mysterious and deadly new V weapons -
0:02:15 > 0:02:18rockets and pilotless drones unprecedented,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22baffling and potentially capable of swinging the war.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26In today's terminology, the V weapons were the first weapons of mass destruction.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34Had he been able to deploy as many as he originally intended,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37it would have almost certainly have destroyed London.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42Working night and day, they saved thousands and thousands of lives.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58'Attention, attention. Squadron XZ. Scramble.'
0:03:00 > 0:03:03The heroic tales of World War II are legend.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07Tales of Battle of Britain fighter aces,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10or the brilliant boffins of Bletchley Park.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12But there is another story.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17A little-known story, which deserves to join this hall of fame.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19Danesfield House,
0:03:19 > 0:03:2460 kilometres west of London, was home to RAF Medmenham.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Here, a highly skilled group of photo interpreters, or PIs,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31played a vital role in tracking,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34exposing and crushing the German war machine.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37It was an A1 source of information.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42The photo interpreters were not only providing up to date information,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45but accurate information.
0:03:45 > 0:03:46The work that was done
0:03:46 > 0:03:51was absolutely vital, as vital as Bletchley.
0:03:54 > 0:03:5780% of British intelligence
0:03:57 > 0:04:00came from photo reconnaissance and photo interpretation.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03I think it was a German general who said
0:04:03 > 0:04:06a country with the best intelligence will win,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09and we provided intelligence.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16Ten million of these wartime photographs survive, many in 3D,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19and are today kept in Edinburgh.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Researcher Allan Williams is helping Wing Commander Mike Mockford
0:04:27 > 0:04:31and Major Chris Halsall, who worked as photo interpreters after the war,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35trace the photos which helped defeat the Nazis.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Nothing moved in Europe which we did not photograph
0:04:39 > 0:04:41and it was absolutely critical
0:04:41 > 0:04:44to the Allied success of the Second World War.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48Without air reconnaissance, it is difficult to imagine
0:04:48 > 0:04:52how we could have possibly achieved the results we did.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Air reconnaissance took a great leap forward in 1940
0:05:00 > 0:05:03with the creation of a specialist wing of the RAF,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09The secret of its success was transforming the star fighter,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13the Spitfire, into the best spy plane in the world.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18Jimmy Taylor flew reconnaissance missions
0:05:18 > 0:05:21in a Spitfire like this one.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25'It was a superb aeroplane. Absolutely wonderful.'
0:05:25 > 0:05:27We were very privileged.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32We were flying the fastest aeroplane, the most beautiful aeroplane.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35No guns sticking out spoiling the outline.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37You could say it was like a butterfly.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42We had the best job in the Air Force, in my opinion.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51It was an exceptional piece of equipment.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55It could reach Berlin...
0:05:58 > 0:06:01..it filmed the entire Ruhr in one mission.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Photo reconnaissance helped forge the special relationship
0:06:09 > 0:06:12in intelligence gathering between Britain and America.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15It meant US Air Force pilot John S Blyth
0:06:15 > 0:06:20could achieve his boyhood dream of flying a Spitfire.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25His war was documented in this rare colour footage
0:06:25 > 0:06:26shot at Mount Farm airfield.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31My job was as a photo reconnaissance pilot.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36I loved the Spitfire and basically all round,
0:06:36 > 0:06:40it was a wonderful aeroplane to fly.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43It had a good rate of climb, good manoeuvrability.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46I loved it.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48It had cameras, no guns.
0:06:52 > 0:06:53The planes had no guns,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56but this lack of fire power didn't bother the pilots.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59It was quite all right, actually,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03because cruising speed of 360 mph and there weren't any aeroplanes
0:07:03 > 0:07:07in 1944 which could do that until the German jets came.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20It's painted blue, this rather lightish grey-blue,
0:07:20 > 0:07:25in order to camouflage it against the blue sky
0:07:25 > 0:07:26when it's flying 30,000 feet,
0:07:26 > 0:07:32which was the optimum height for taking our photographs.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36The biggest enemy we had was we might make a contrail
0:07:36 > 0:07:39and it betrayed our position,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42and flak could come up and equally the fighters.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47The pilots were quite astonishing, out of this world.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51They had to navigate their way to the target on their own,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55looking out for interception, sometimes in difficult conditions.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01The whole thing was a heart-stopping exercise, quite frankly.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04I think they were marvellous!
0:08:04 > 0:08:09But the great thing was when they found their target,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11they had to fly a level course because
0:08:11 > 0:08:15if they weren't flying straight and level it distorted the pictures.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17They were the cream of the air crew.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22You had to find your target, photograph it underneath you when you couldn't see it.
0:08:22 > 0:08:27You'd have to get right over the target practically
0:08:27 > 0:08:32and roll over and see the target and bring the aeroplane around
0:08:32 > 0:08:35and level out and then fly straight
0:08:35 > 0:08:39and level while the cameras were turning.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44It had five cameras.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50One was fitted under each wing here, and two in the fuselage.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54And the camera's here -
0:08:54 > 0:08:58as you can see, it's a pretty big one
0:08:58 > 0:09:02and that would have to be put through this hatch here
0:09:02 > 0:09:08and point down through one of these two port holes in the bottom of the fuselage.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17At 30,000 feet you could take pictures of a man on a bicycle.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21Interestingly, the first thing in the Spitfire
0:09:21 > 0:09:25that they heated was the camera because they wanted good photographs.
0:09:25 > 0:09:26The pilot froze, basically.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31If you're gone for five hours, you might be at minus 50 degrees
0:09:31 > 0:09:34and it was so cold sometimes your knees,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38you could hardly bend them or anything.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40A fat lot of good having done it all
0:09:40 > 0:09:42unless they got the pictures back to us
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and they did it, day after day, in very difficult conditions.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52John S Blyth, like all reconnaissance pilots,
0:09:52 > 0:09:53diced with death many times.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58Once when his landing gear jammed, a moment that was caught on camera.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01I felt kind of a thud
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and I came in to land at Mount Farm and I dropped the gear
0:10:04 > 0:10:08and the handle wouldn't move.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10I was sweating like everything
0:10:10 > 0:10:14and I thought, "I'm not going to get out of this one alive."
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Finally, after about an hour I came in
0:10:18 > 0:10:22and touched down and the wooden prop
0:10:22 > 0:10:27which I've got a piece of here, flew all to pieces.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35There's no point in asking a man to risk his life
0:10:35 > 0:10:41and then not getting every bit of information that the film contains.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53The photos were analysed with scientific precision in three phases.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58The first, as soon as the plane had landed at the airfield.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00They would look at the photographs
0:11:00 > 0:11:04and if something needed immediate action within 24 hours or so,
0:11:04 > 0:11:08where the army had to shell or the air force bomb some target,
0:11:08 > 0:11:12a bridge in Germany where troops were crossing,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16that would be a very important target straightaway.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21The photographs were then printed on an industrial scale.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25An astonishing 36 million prints were made in the war.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33They'd send the more important photographs to Medmenham to the interpreters there,
0:11:33 > 0:11:37who would then identify whether there was something that could be bombed
0:11:37 > 0:11:40or attacked in the next week or so, which was phase two,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42or whether it was a long-term thing
0:11:42 > 0:11:46about the German war effort and they contributed to phase three.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51Medmenham was so many sided, so many different things were going on.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52It's quite unbelievable.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Most of us in our own little sections only knew what we were doing,
0:11:56 > 0:12:00but we were impressed by the other things going on that we knew nothing about.
0:12:00 > 0:12:06Well, I was in N Section, which was the night photograph section.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Flak and tracer and searchlights
0:12:11 > 0:12:16were all recorded on the run in to the target,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20and it was just like an incredible mass of lines
0:12:20 > 0:12:23and waves and bursts of fire.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28They recruited a lot of academics and particularly academics
0:12:28 > 0:12:33who were accustomed to being precise and punctilious.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37A lot of them were recruited from Oxford and Cambridge,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40mathematicians, geologists, archaeologists.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46Interpreting photographs was not just an academic skill.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50It demanded creative minds and lateral thinking
0:12:50 > 0:12:52to find the devil in the detail.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58One of Medmenham's most inspired moves
0:12:58 > 0:13:02was to recruit its talent from the Hollywood studios.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Disney legend, X Atencio, who later wrote Pirates Of The Caribbean,
0:13:06 > 0:13:11was part of a large American contingent at Medmenham.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15We had quite a few artists in our unit
0:13:15 > 0:13:20because we had an eye for detail.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23I was assigned to airfields
0:13:23 > 0:13:27and that's how I became an expert on airfields.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30We had Dirk Bogart as an actor.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33He was in the army section.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38I thought he was a bit of a poseur and dilettante.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43But I think he was quite a reasonable PI.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Something new had happened too. They began to hire women.
0:13:47 > 0:13:53And at one time, they had about 150 women working as photo interpreters.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Generally, the women didn't fly.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59A lot of them were very hand picked, yes.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01I wasn't, but a lot of them were.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08The reconnaissance pilots and photo interpreters made a brilliant team.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14As the bombing offensive against German cities intensified,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18they played a vital role, not just in identifying targets,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22but also assessing the damage inflicted on the enemy.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27There's an incredible amount of smoke rising
0:14:27 > 0:14:30and some clear fires burning in the city.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36It was very necessary after every raid to analyse the damage.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39In simple terms, did you need to go back again?
0:14:39 > 0:14:43When you are at war, destroying the infrastructure is very important.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49But what the PIs saw was not always to the liking of the bomber crews,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51as Dino Brugioni found
0:14:51 > 0:14:55when he returned from apparently successful missions.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00You would brag about it. "We put our bombs right on the target area."
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Well, what happened was a photo interpreter
0:15:04 > 0:15:06would look at it and they'd say, "You missed the target."
0:15:06 > 0:15:11First of all they'd deny it, then they'd get mad,
0:15:11 > 0:15:16then they want to blame Intel like it was their fault,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18but the imagery is truth.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23Churchill asked to see the photographs and he sided with the photo interpreters.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32In May 1942, the landmark Thousand Bomber Raid
0:15:32 > 0:15:35was carried out against the German city of Cologne.
0:15:39 > 0:15:45The scrambler rang, the secret phone,
0:15:45 > 0:15:49and a voice said, "Is Cologne still there?"
0:15:49 > 0:15:52And I said, "Yes, sir, there's quite a lot of it left."
0:15:52 > 0:15:58He said, "Send the photographs immediately to the cabinet war room."
0:15:58 > 0:16:02That was the great man himself.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Air reconnaissance was one thing,
0:16:07 > 0:16:12but what was so revolutionary was how Medmenham
0:16:12 > 0:16:14took an ordinary stereoscope,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18the equivalent of the 3D glasses used in modern-day cinemas,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22and turned it into an intelligence weapon which helped win the war.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28The viewers they used were probably Victorian in origin,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32part of a party game almost in the 19th century.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35So stereo is as old as the hills.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40For it to work, pilots like Jimmy Taylor
0:16:40 > 0:16:47had to take the photos in a series of perfectly overlapping sequences.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50These are the plots they made of my photographs.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54I'm amazed that these have been recovered.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56I haven't seen them myself.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01We had to make sure when they were viewed by the photo interpreters,
0:17:01 > 0:17:07each of these pictures overlapped the other by 60%
0:17:07 > 0:17:12because everything on the photograph would then stand up in three dimensions.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18The Medmenham PIs became experts at interpreting this 3rd dimension.
0:17:18 > 0:17:243D was as valuable a weapon as the bouncing bomb
0:17:24 > 0:17:29during the legendary Dambusters raid against three dams in Germany.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34By applying modern computer graphics to the original photo from May 1943,
0:17:34 > 0:17:39you can see how a PI would have viewed it in 3D through a stereoscope.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46We'd taken a photograph in 2D, it wouldn't show a thing.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49That was the advantage of the 3D photography.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53You got the detail and looked into it.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59You get a wonderful impression of height.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02It's not just dead flat.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06You can see the contours of the land.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09People would say it's obvious you've got a photograph,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11you can see things and indeed you can,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13but things aren't always what they appear to be.
0:18:13 > 0:18:183D allowed the PIs to see through a crafty German ploy
0:18:18 > 0:18:23to conceal one of their cruisers in this fjord.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27Going offshore there's this decoy and boom combined,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30where they've lashed together tyres in the water,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33joined them all up together
0:18:33 > 0:18:37and made them look like a ship floating in the water.
0:18:37 > 0:18:413D aerial photography had come of age.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45It was just as well because Medmenham
0:18:45 > 0:18:51was about to be called upon to deliver its greatest victory in Operation Crossbow.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59The story begins in May 1942, when a British reconnaissance Spitfire
0:18:59 > 0:19:04took off from Benson air base and crisscrossed northern Germany.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09While flying over a remote island off the Baltic coast,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13something below caught the pilot's eye.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17It was an obscure place called Peenemunde.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21And that's how they found Peenemunde,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25strictly by accident because he saw they were making an airfield.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29Well, nothing attracts aerial intelligence like an airfield.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39And the only thing there that attracted anybody's attention
0:19:39 > 0:19:42were the three big concrete and earth circles.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Here we have the very first photograph of Peenemunde.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56I think there was all sorts of conjecture as to what the three circles were.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58As a PI looking at those in isolation
0:19:58 > 0:20:03my immediate reaction would probably be to think that
0:20:03 > 0:20:08they might be something to do with sewage actually.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16So given the pressing nature of other things that they were doing
0:20:16 > 0:20:20at the time, the photo interpreters shelved those photos in 1942.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24This could have been one of the greatest mistakes
0:20:24 > 0:20:28of World War 2 because, while the Allies had been honing
0:20:28 > 0:20:32their aerial reconnaissance skills, the Germans were busy too,
0:20:32 > 0:20:39building a new generation of weapons of terrifying sophistication.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43The epicentre of their ominous weapons research
0:20:43 > 0:20:47was a purpose built industrial complex at Peenemunde.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51The rockets and missiles they were developing there,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55were the fore-runners of the weapons that dominate our world today.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02The Nazis spent a lot of money in Peenemunde.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06This was the biggest research centre in the world between 1936 and 1945.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11I think the Germans were far,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14far ahead of us in terms of missile technology.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17They had some brilliant men.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Men like scientist Werner von Braun were working on weapons that
0:21:23 > 0:21:27were so advanced that they were a complete mystery to the Allies.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34By 1942, their efforts were beginning to bear fruit.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42First, a V1 cruise missile was successfully launched.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49And then on the October 3rd, the Germans made one of the great
0:21:49 > 0:21:52breakthroughs in the history of science and of warfare
0:21:52 > 0:21:57when a V2 rocket soared into the stratosphere at supersonic speed.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Vergeltungswaffen, the revenge weapons,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Hitler hoped this big collection of new weapons
0:22:05 > 0:22:07that he was developing would be in place
0:22:07 > 0:22:10in time somehow to turn the tide.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15The Nazis once again got hope, hope to win the war.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27And the Allies knew nothing about their plans.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Until a key breakthrough came at Trent Park military prison
0:22:33 > 0:22:39in March 1943 when British intelligence managed to bug
0:22:39 > 0:22:43a conversation between two German generals.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46The British overheard two German generals
0:22:46 > 0:22:50captured in North Africa talking about this rocket.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54This future weapon that would soon be raining down on the British
0:22:54 > 0:22:57and might change the course of the war.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03RAF Medmenham could be forgiven for overlooking
0:23:03 > 0:23:06the significance of the earlier photographs of Peenemunde.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Now they had a second chance and at last something to go on.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18The spy planes were scrambled to scour Germany
0:23:18 > 0:23:22and northern France for any evidence they could get in camera.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30Thousands of photos were rushed back
0:23:30 > 0:23:34and the interpreters were asked to find clues of long range missiles
0:23:34 > 0:23:37that could be fired at Britain from France.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41They were told to look for something queer,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44a tube out of which could be squirted a missile.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48To ask a photo interpreter to do an analysis of a missile site
0:23:48 > 0:23:51that has never seen one before was asking a lot.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57You were trained to know what would be normal to look at
0:23:57 > 0:24:02so you had to have a sense of anomalies.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07And there's a certain amount of detective work in looking at clues.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12I always felt it was like doing a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18And with the help of 3D, a PI managed to spot a tube
0:24:18 > 0:24:22on its side in one of the mysterious circles at Peenemunde.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28All that seen was a tube. To see the initial image was one thing.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33To work out what it was and what it could do was a very different one.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37I think there was a great fear about these things.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41Where were they aimed at, what shape would they take,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43how would they attack us?
0:24:45 > 0:24:47Now the real detective work began.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54In Edinburgh the team is going back over the original photos that
0:24:54 > 0:24:56helped change the course of the war.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02This is absolutely great. We've got here a photograph which shows two rockets.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05It's a significant moment in history without question
0:25:05 > 0:25:08when they saw this for the first time.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11People having looked at these, they said how do they launch them
0:25:11 > 0:25:16and it was then that they started looking back over imagery and
0:25:16 > 0:25:23they eventually discovered the first one that was actually sticking up vertically
0:25:23 > 0:25:29and looked like a sort of pole really sticking up in the air.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34- We've marked up where that first one is.- Really hard to see...
0:25:34 > 0:25:36You can see the shadow of it there.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41Sometimes you can learn more from the shadows than you can from the
0:25:41 > 0:25:46object because you'll see the shadow on the ground and you can measure it.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52So the PIs were able to work out that the V2 rocket was
0:25:52 > 0:25:56an imposing 14 metres high.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01But there was a problem...
0:26:01 > 0:26:05Churchill's chief scientific adviser, Lord Cherwell,
0:26:05 > 0:26:10refused to believe the Germans had the technology to build rockets.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13It was all too new, like something from science fiction.
0:26:15 > 0:26:21Now RAF Medmenham needed something more than stereoscopes to make sense of the threat.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24It needed a step change in technology.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29The answer was the Wild...
0:26:29 > 0:26:33a state-of-the-art photogrammetric machine used for land surveys.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37It alone could deliver the level of detail
0:26:37 > 0:26:42and precision needed to convince the doubters.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47But there was a shortage of Wild machines in Britain.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50The only place to get them was Switzerland,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52but that was a neutral country.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56So one of the most daring missions of the war,
0:26:56 > 0:27:00led by Squadron Leader Ramsay Matthews was launched to
0:27:00 > 0:27:03bring not one but two new Wild machines to Medmenham.
0:27:04 > 0:27:11He managed to persuade a Swedish intermediary to buy two
0:27:11 > 0:27:16Wild A6s, and arranged for them to be shipped through Germany,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19and moved them up to Sweden.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27They then had the problem of how to bring them back to the UK.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Squadron leader Ramsay was flown out to Sweden,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34acquired these two machines, stripped them down.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39They were then put on board Mosquitoes.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43Of course the Mosquito isn't a big aircraft
0:27:43 > 0:27:50and he had to be strapped in the bomb bay with one of the Wilds.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58They took off, and they got bounced by a German night fighter.
0:27:58 > 0:28:04The pilot wanted to slow up in a hurry, so opened up everything
0:28:04 > 0:28:09to slow it down suddenly, which included opening the bomb bay doors.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15In the excitement of getting away from the German night fighter,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19he then forgot to close the bomb bay doors.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26And flying right across the North Sea,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29our Squadron leader was sitting in there nearly frozen to death.
0:28:30 > 0:28:36The whole episode showed how important these Wilds were considered.
0:28:37 > 0:28:43The Wild could now be used to get a greater understanding of Peenemunde.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46In the machine, built into the optics is a floating dot.
0:28:46 > 0:28:51The floating dot enables you to trace a contour or to measure
0:28:51 > 0:28:55precisely an object, in length, width and the height of an object.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01In the V weapons saga, this particular machine was used
0:29:01 > 0:29:05to measure the buildings and the rocket test sites
0:29:05 > 0:29:09so that the models that were so vital in convincing the senior scientists
0:29:09 > 0:29:12that there were indeed rocket development sites.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17The precise measurements provided by the Wild enabled
0:29:17 > 0:29:22the model makers to bring Peenemunde to life for the uninitiated.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29The model they made in 1943 is now locked away in the store rooms
0:29:29 > 0:29:32at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.
0:29:33 > 0:29:38Ah! Right, so this is the one original
0:29:38 > 0:29:41surviving model of Peenemunde then.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Yep. It's in very good condition.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48This is the first ballistic missile test site ever in the world.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51It's perfect in almost every detail.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55A modern fly through of the model gives some idea
0:29:55 > 0:29:58of the sort of impression it would have made on Churchill
0:29:58 > 0:30:00and his War Cabinet back in 1943.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05They could come and study this and it would have been accurate
0:30:05 > 0:30:08in every detail of measurement so they would have been able to size
0:30:08 > 0:30:12the missile against the construction building and the engine test site.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15I don't think the scientists at that time had any idea
0:30:15 > 0:30:18and there was a lot of scepticism about what it was.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23And that, of course, was one of the arguments that Cherwell used
0:30:23 > 0:30:27that we'd never produced one, so how could the Germans?
0:30:27 > 0:30:30This is the classic we can't do it, they can't do it and that is
0:30:30 > 0:30:34one of the greatest intelligence mistakes anyone ever makes.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38As the politicians bickered, spy planes monitoring
0:30:38 > 0:30:44northern France came back with more alarming photographs.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50Just a short hop across the Channel.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55They find bunkers, large bunkers.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59The bunkers didn't have any particular unique shape
0:30:59 > 0:31:02that you could determine what was in them.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06They were huge... monstrous concrete structures.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09Obviously to start with, nobody knew what they were.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12They were so strange.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16These mysterious bunkers became known to the PIs as the heavy sites.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22The heaviest of all was built in a quarry in a village called
0:31:22 > 0:31:25Wizernes just 40 kilometres from the English Channel.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34Not all photographs were taken from the safety of 9,000 metres.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Medmenham also needed heroic daredevils who would
0:31:38 > 0:31:44risk their lives by flying at just 30 metres to capture amazingly
0:31:44 > 0:31:47detailed close-up images like these.
0:31:55 > 0:32:01This photograph...the most daring photograph of World War Two.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04Here you can see the dome.
0:32:06 > 0:32:13To fly into a quarry and pull up and get a photograph is just amazing.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18I made about two runs over it and then they opened up on me
0:32:18 > 0:32:24and the flak was so damn thick that I was diving,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28doing all sharp turns and everything and I went out the Channel
0:32:28 > 0:32:32and settled down because I was a little shaken.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37There you go. Not quite the same angle
0:32:37 > 0:32:40but it's pretty much the view the Spitfire got
0:32:40 > 0:32:46- when he flew his very low level recce.- A true dicing sortie.
0:32:46 > 0:32:52Here you are you've got the entire early structural stages here
0:32:52 > 0:32:56with all the scaffolding, a lot of work going into the laying of the concrete etc.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Just a huge effort going into building something on the French coast
0:33:00 > 0:33:03which was in reasonable shot of London.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09Everybody agreed this is way too much effort
0:33:09 > 0:33:11to be anything but nefarious.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18And it's too far back from the coast to be
0:33:18 > 0:33:20part of the defence works.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28The PIs at Medmenham suspected these bunkers were potential
0:33:28 > 0:33:31rocket launch sites and they would later be proved to be right.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38Major firms in Germany were building them and they would manufacture the missile.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41And not only that, then they would have rails outside,
0:33:41 > 0:33:43places where they could fire the missile.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46Adding it to the other heavy sites
0:33:46 > 0:33:51and adding it to Peenemunde put it all together and say, well,
0:33:51 > 0:33:55safest thing is to bomb this lot into extinction, if possible.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03On the 17th and 18th August 1943,
0:34:03 > 0:34:08more than 500 bombers set off from the UK with one aim...
0:34:08 > 0:34:10the complete destruction of Peenemunde
0:34:10 > 0:34:13and the elimination of the German rocket threat.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20They launched the first night precision bombardment
0:34:20 > 0:34:22raid against Peenemunde.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26The air crews were told, if you don't get this,
0:34:26 > 0:34:30you're going back again and that's kind of chilling.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33It certainly underlines the importance of it.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37The British were developing a fairly effective bomber force
0:34:37 > 0:34:41that could in fact hit targets at night with pretty good effect.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50John Bell was a bomb aimer on a Lancaster bomber.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53The whole of the front of the aircraft was my office.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57You'd line up with the target and look out for the spot flares
0:34:57 > 0:35:02that you'd been told to aim at and carry out the procedure for
0:35:02 > 0:35:05bombing which was fairly automatic once you'd lined up the bomb sight.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12Even though there was heavy flak, even though the Luftwaffe did
0:35:12 > 0:35:16respond with a certain number of aircraft the British were able
0:35:16 > 0:35:20to get into the target and they were able to do very severe damage.
0:35:29 > 0:35:34There was terrible devastation and awful loss of life
0:35:34 > 0:35:36but we were fighting for our life!
0:35:39 > 0:35:42The British bombing raid had in fact thrown the V2 programme
0:35:42 > 0:35:47back eight weeks, maybe more like 12 weeks, but more importantly had
0:35:47 > 0:35:51killed several of the most important scientists and put the Germans
0:35:51 > 0:35:55very firmly on notice that the British knew what they were up to.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00Of course as soon as Peenemunde had been bombed, they had to think about
0:36:00 > 0:36:06the heavy sites in the Pas de Calais of which this was one, wasn't it?
0:36:06 > 0:36:10So it was decided to bomb all those as well.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13We're standing in this area, I think.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15And on this photograph you can still see some
0:36:15 > 0:36:18remnants of the construction programme actually
0:36:18 > 0:36:23but the dome is complete and hugely thick and effectively bomb-proof.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30This photo shows a German bunker at Watten after conventional
0:36:30 > 0:36:33saturation bombing by the US Air Force.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38Amazingly, the building emerged almost unscathed.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42The conventional bombs were just bouncing off
0:36:42 > 0:36:46and you look at the photography and the ground around the bunkers
0:36:46 > 0:36:50are all chewed up, meaning the bombs hit the bunkers but did no damage.
0:36:50 > 0:36:57They soon found out the bunkers, the only bomb did any significant damage was the Tallboy.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01The 12,000-pound Tallboy, and its heavier brother, the Grand Slam,
0:37:01 > 0:37:06was designed by bouncing bomb legend, Barnes Wallis.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09John Bell dropped one on the bunker at Wizernes.
0:37:12 > 0:37:13The Tallboy worked very well.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18It was a very accurate weapon, quite a pleasure to drop really.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23When we were aiming at Wizernes, all we had to see was a dome
0:37:23 > 0:37:28sitting on the top of a hillside and that's really what we aimed at.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31Fortunately the one I dropped was instrumental in making
0:37:31 > 0:37:36the dome tilt to one side. It was perhaps fortunate that it did not
0:37:36 > 0:37:39hit it, because otherwise the bomb might well have bounced off.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44The near misses did the damage actually because they were earthquake effect
0:37:44 > 0:37:48and they caused the whole site to sort of tilt a little bit.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52We attacked it on several occasions and managed to put it out of action.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58RAF Medmenham had dealt a major blow to the German war effort
0:37:58 > 0:38:02and provided the Nazis with sobering evidence of just how
0:38:02 > 0:38:06difficult it was to keep their plans veiled from Allied eyes.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13But Hitler was determined to persevere.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17The V weapons programme was relocated, well beyond
0:38:17 > 0:38:20the spying lenses of the Spitfire,
0:38:20 > 0:38:25to the distant forests of Poland and to the Harz Mountains
0:38:25 > 0:38:28in the anonymous heartland of Germany itself.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38Just outside the small town of Nordhausen, a mountainside was
0:38:38 > 0:38:43turned into a massive underground factory to produce V weapons.
0:38:45 > 0:38:51When you put it underground, first of all it is devilish hard
0:38:51 > 0:38:54to bomb and it's impossible to tell what is going on inside.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00The V2 was no mere dabbling in new technology...
0:39:00 > 0:39:05the Nazis really believed it had the power to swing the outcome
0:39:05 > 0:39:08of the war and threw their best minds and resources at it.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15The ruthless SS, now in charge of the V weapons programme,
0:39:15 > 0:39:18conscripted 60,000 slave labourers to work
0:39:18 > 0:39:23in infernal darkness in the mountain factory.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25I was selected for slave labour.
0:39:28 > 0:39:35Entering the tunnel the place was lit up, massive it was,
0:39:35 > 0:39:37the tunnel was 21km in total.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42I immediately thought, good God, we're going to be kept here
0:39:42 > 0:39:45and we're never going to see daylight again.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51The dust and the dampness, it was unbelievable.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56People either lost the will to live
0:39:56 > 0:40:01or just through the conditions they couldn't cope with it and they perished.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06There were dead bodies lying all over.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10The human tragedy unfolding in the mountains and at
0:40:10 > 0:40:16the Dora Concentration Camp was not evident to the PIs at Medmenham.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18Even if it had been,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21not even the Tallboy could have made a difference.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30The V weapons could no longer be destroyed at source.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32Now the only solution lay in finding
0:40:32 > 0:40:35and wiping out their launch sites in Northern France.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39A first lead came from the French resistance which
0:40:39 > 0:40:42warned of a lot of clandestine German building.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44The information that was being provided by
0:40:44 > 0:40:47the French resistance was extremely good.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51They were picking out areas which the Germans had kept
0:40:51 > 0:40:54people form going into a particular area. That was a good sign
0:40:54 > 0:40:57that something secretive was going on.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02This time, the spy planes would have to look a lot harder to
0:41:02 > 0:41:04find their targets.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07The only thing you could really see was a ramp.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11They put them in these little groups of woods.
0:41:11 > 0:41:17I think the first time I spent about half an hour before I finally
0:41:17 > 0:41:19caught on how I could actually see them
0:41:19 > 0:41:25and after that it got easier, but they were still very difficult to spot.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36What the PIs saw through their stereoscopes was perplexing...
0:41:36 > 0:41:41woods full of new buildings, all of weird shapes and sizes.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44As well as the ramps, there were buildings that
0:41:44 > 0:41:47looked like skis turned on their side.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49So they became known as the ski sites.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53Looking at it from the air is one thing
0:41:53 > 0:41:58but actually ground checking is fascinating.
0:41:58 > 0:42:03Nobody could imagine what on earth you would build a building
0:42:03 > 0:42:06this shape for.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11In all 96 sites... all almost identical...
0:42:11 > 0:42:13were identified by Medmenham.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16When these were first seen, they were a complete mystery.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Nobody knew what they were for.
0:42:20 > 0:42:25This has got the classic ski structure signatures on it,
0:42:25 > 0:42:27which became, of course, the giveaway.
0:42:27 > 0:42:32Looking at these photographs makes you realise what a challenge
0:42:32 > 0:42:36it was for the PIs at that time.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39There was a lot of searching in the dark, you might say.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45The problem the PIs faced was that a vital piece of the jigsaw
0:42:45 > 0:42:51was missing. They still knew nothing about the existence
0:42:51 > 0:42:52of the V1 flying bomb.
0:42:54 > 0:43:00It was not discovered until late 1943, on a photograph of Peenemunde.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04To the untrained eye it looked like nothing at all.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09You could see it was some sort of flying vehicle
0:43:09 > 0:43:11but what sort of flying vehicle?
0:43:11 > 0:43:16A lot of work was involved in inferring from what could be
0:43:16 > 0:43:18seen from measurements, from experience,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22from thinking of what it could be and what it could do.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27A whisper went around the whole station so we were all very
0:43:27 > 0:43:33well aware that this was something absolutely fantastically important.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37It's just a small blur really.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42It's just a tiny cruciform shape sitting on a ramp very similar to the ramp over there.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46And that then with the ramp
0:43:46 > 0:43:50and the sites that they'd already witnessed began to put
0:43:50 > 0:43:53the story together and they realised that the threat was
0:43:53 > 0:43:56almost certainly a small pilotless aircraft,
0:43:56 > 0:43:58almost certainly a bomb, of course.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02It took a great leap of the imagination from the PIs
0:44:02 > 0:44:06to identify a blurred cross as a flying bomb.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12Using modern computer graphics we can reveal what they saw...
0:44:12 > 0:44:16a deadly V1 poised to be fired.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24The mysterious ski shaped buildings
0:44:24 > 0:44:27turned out to be V1 store rooms.
0:44:29 > 0:44:34Suddenly all those strange structures in France meant something
0:44:34 > 0:44:36and now they knew they were the ramps
0:44:36 > 0:44:39that were going to launch the V1s.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43They plotted the ramps and they could see
0:44:43 > 0:44:46exactly where the V1's were headed...
0:44:48 > 0:44:50Southampton, Portsmouth, London.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Thanks to the Wild machine, it was clear the Nazis were on
0:44:55 > 0:45:01the verge of launching a devastating bombardment of the south of England.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04The timing could not have been worse for the Allies who
0:45:04 > 0:45:07were in the midst of plans to invade France.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12They were planning on the D-day landings
0:45:12 > 0:45:15and how was this going to affect those plans?
0:45:15 > 0:45:20The Germans had planned to launch up to 2,000 V1s a day.
0:45:21 > 0:45:27If you could have had a couple of those the V1s hit a troopship...
0:45:29 > 0:45:32It was vital that they attacked them and wipe them out,
0:45:32 > 0:45:37otherwise it wouldn't have been possible to invade.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47This prompted the Allies to launch Operation Crossbow at the end of 1943.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51Its success could determine the outcome of the whole war.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56Bombing the ski sites became a priority.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00It began two days before Christmas.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08The heaviest bombing I ever saw...
0:46:08 > 0:46:11you couldn't see much of anything. There were so many craters.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18If it hadn't destroyed those sites, it's hard to tell
0:46:18 > 0:46:21what would have happened to the Normandy invasion.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24It would have probably had to have been put off.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29There's no doubt at all that the intensive bombing
0:46:29 > 0:46:33of the V1 sites must have prevented a substantial
0:46:33 > 0:46:35part of the intended attack from ever arriving.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39It was vital to the mounting of the invasion.
0:46:39 > 0:46:45Now the biggest thing for Medmenham was to plan the invasion of Europe.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49This was a fantastic effort.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53Hundreds of daily flights monitoring all the activities.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59On the Normandy landings, every platoon commander had
0:46:59 > 0:47:04photographs of where he was landing, where the mines were
0:47:04 > 0:47:07and where the obstacles were, everything was known.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13Guided by Medmenham, Operation Overlord
0:47:13 > 0:47:19was launched on June 6th 1944.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23And the feared German missiles did not rain down on the Allies' parade.
0:47:27 > 0:47:32But that particular nightmare had been merely postponed.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35What came next, made it dramatically clear how important
0:47:35 > 0:47:38it had been for D Day to happen on schedule.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43The first V1 landed on London
0:47:43 > 0:47:46a week after we were ashore at Normandy.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS
0:47:55 > 0:47:58The V1 brought terror to the streets of London and soon became
0:47:58 > 0:48:04known as the Doodlebug because of the sinister sound it made.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08It went pup, pup, pup, then suddenly stopped and you hoped that you
0:48:08 > 0:48:10weren't under or anywhere near
0:48:10 > 0:48:12where it was going to drop.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19EXPLOSION
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Eileen Alexander was 11 when she heard that terrifying sound
0:48:28 > 0:48:31overhead near her East London home.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35Her ordeal that day made her national news.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37There was a big explosion.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41I was knocked from the door, right to the end of the shelter
0:48:41 > 0:48:44and I was really badly bruised from head to toe.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47It was really dark and black and you couldn't see anything,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49I was very frightened.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53When it cleared a little bit, I saw the devastation.
0:48:53 > 0:48:59My house had gone. So I was crying then and then a fireman came along.
0:49:01 > 0:49:06We'd lost everything, but we didn't lose our lives.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12As the death toll mounted into the thousands, the British fought back
0:49:12 > 0:49:17against these unmanned killing machines in any way they could.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25RAF Medmenham played its part by uncovering the source
0:49:25 > 0:49:28of these terror weapons.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33It was a real game of cat and mouse. Every time they were caught out,
0:49:33 > 0:49:39the Germans had an uncanny knack of finding a new way of doing things.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47Now they were using less conspicuous launch areas
0:49:47 > 0:49:52and artful camouflage to hide their V1 operations.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57They developed very small sites
0:49:57 > 0:50:00and they would bring the missiles at the last possible minute,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04set up missile, fuel it, launch it and get out of there.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09The 3D photos again came into their own as the PIs
0:50:09 > 0:50:12looked for a needle in a haystack.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16These were much harder to find. This is an example in Holland.
0:50:16 > 0:50:17It's at a sugar factory
0:50:17 > 0:50:22and the signatures that give away the site are actually very tentative.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24There is scarring on the land.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29There is damage on a building roof.
0:50:32 > 0:50:38And the ramp is almost impossible to see, here tucked inside the building.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44You see that pattern you've got there of those scarrings
0:50:44 > 0:50:47were not something that's normal at all.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51This shows the V1 taking off the ramp and the booster motor
0:50:51 > 0:50:54and the dolly that supported it are dropping off
0:50:54 > 0:50:58and that's what you're seeing here, causing scarring.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Under the direction of Medmenham, Allied bombers were able to
0:51:01 > 0:51:05target these sites and limit the Doodlebug barrage against London.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10This gave the ground forces time to sweep up
0:51:10 > 0:51:13the V1 emplacements as they fought their way across Northern France.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21But the Germans were not finished yet. An even greater threat
0:51:21 > 0:51:24laid waiting in the wings.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27We just thought what next? Because this was a new kind of thing...
0:51:27 > 0:51:31rockets and so on. Hitler was capable of anything.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36The last Doodlebug fell on the 7th September 1944
0:51:36 > 0:51:40and the Battle of London was declared over.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45Just one day later, the unimaginable happened.
0:51:45 > 0:51:51The first V2 rocket crashed into Chiswick in west London.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55What made it so terrifying was that it travelled
0:51:55 > 0:52:03at supersonic speed and came out of nowhere with no warning.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08Defences against the V1 was possible.
0:52:08 > 0:52:10There was no defence against the V2.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15Once they fired, they're gone.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20The notion that you could be blown up by something before you
0:52:20 > 0:52:23even knew it was coming was always a bit alarming.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29I was probably the first to see a V2 going up.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31I was on my way to a target
0:52:31 > 0:52:36and suddenly through the cloud came a vertical contrail.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40And I thought hey that's funny. I thought it must be a rocket.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43I tried to take a photograph of this contrail, but I failed.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46When I got back to base, I reported this, of course,
0:52:46 > 0:52:51but nobody else believed it and it was called it Taylor's Folly.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57Taylor's Folly was Medmenham's worst nightmare.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00This was a major problem, because the V2 was mobile.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04So you'd fly and think, "dash here it is, here's one"
0:53:04 > 0:53:07and you'd photograph it.
0:53:08 > 0:53:14All they did was pour a big concrete slab and the trucks would come
0:53:14 > 0:53:17and they'd erect the rocket itself and refuel it,
0:53:17 > 0:53:21sitting on this concrete pad.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30Then they'd fire it and drive off.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34The whole thing about the missile system was shoot and scoot.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38So Medmenham needed to find ways of containing the threat of the V2.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41And here is the famous V2.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47What RAF Medmenham did at the time was
0:53:47 > 0:53:51they looked at the whole production facility in the Harz Mountains,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54and they attacked the transport system and the type of vehicles
0:53:54 > 0:53:56they were using and all the supporting infrastructure that
0:53:56 > 0:54:00supported the V2 which made it an incredibly difficult challenge.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05The only way to stop the V2 in the end was the army,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09to overrun the launch sites which was what they did in the end.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15By the time it went operational, forces on the ground had
0:54:15 > 0:54:19almost pushed it out of range of the major targets.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26The V weapons claimed about 9,000 lives in England
0:54:26 > 0:54:30but it could have been so many more had it not been for Medmenham.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35The PIs had been proved right.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Those mysterious tubes and ramps at Peenemunde had indeed
0:54:39 > 0:54:42presaged an entirely new era of warfare that could easily
0:54:42 > 0:54:46have rained untold destruction down on England.
0:54:46 > 0:54:51It saved London from total obliteration.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56The V2 was a testament to German ingenuity
0:54:56 > 0:54:58and as soon as the war was over
0:54:58 > 0:55:02the Americans and Soviets rushed to grab their technology.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06We looked upon the Germans as great scientists and they were.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10They provided us a lot of information.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15The key figure in the development of the V2, Werner von Braun,
0:55:15 > 0:55:22went on to become the architect of Saturn V which took man to the moon.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26Von Braun, he should have been tried as a war criminal
0:55:26 > 0:55:28and everybody who ran Dora Camp.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32They were using slave labour, us,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35who were really brought down to animal level.
0:55:35 > 0:55:41The V2 was also built on German barbarism, as was clear,
0:55:41 > 0:55:43when Dora was liberated.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46The dead were stacked like cord wood.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50Thousands of dead people were there, that were the Dora inmates.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53They weren't burying the dead, they were just stacking them
0:55:53 > 0:55:55outside the underground.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59We were robbed of our future, of our youth.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02It's just unbelievable...
0:56:04 > 0:56:10..what we as humans are able to do to each other.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16The appalling scenes at Dora were yet more proof of the kind of war
0:56:16 > 0:56:22the PIs at Medmenham and the spy planes helped to win.
0:56:30 > 0:56:3370 years on, and veterans from Medmenham are holding
0:56:33 > 0:56:36a reunion at Danesfield House.
0:56:40 > 0:56:41It's going to dive bomb us!
0:56:43 > 0:56:47They may not have achieved the celebrity and recognition
0:56:47 > 0:56:50of their intelligence colleagues at Bletchley Park.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54The reconnaissance pilots lacked the glamour
0:56:54 > 0:56:57of the fighter boys of the Battle of Britain,
0:56:57 > 0:57:02but their unsung contribution to the war was as important as either.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06Without the unique qualities of the people who worked there,
0:57:06 > 0:57:08we would have been far worse off.
0:57:08 > 0:57:13I think the war would have been extended by a year or two. They made a huge contribution.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16I always felt that when the war was over
0:57:16 > 0:57:19and I was demobbed, in a very small way
0:57:19 > 0:57:23I had contributed something of value to the war effort.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26People were doing it for the sake of the job
0:57:26 > 0:57:31and because the job was worthwhile and exciting, valuable and you could see the point of it.
0:57:31 > 0:57:39I feel we did a useful job and helped to shorten the war.
0:57:42 > 0:57:44I just liked being my own boss.
0:57:44 > 0:57:48I liked doing my own thing.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51If I goofed up I was the one that goofed up.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57It meant so much to me. It meant so much to the rest of my life.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00And I loved it.
0:58:05 > 0:58:11This is a wonderful aeroplane, and it still is really the love of my life.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17It's not really a war machine because photographs can't
0:58:17 > 0:58:21do any harm to anybody until we drop bombs on the Germans as
0:58:21 > 0:58:25a result of these photographs which of course in the end won us the war.
0:58:45 > 0:58:48Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:48 > 0:58:51E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk