Late in the Second World War, with his enemies gathering strength and the prospects of victory fast fading, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler pinned his hopes on revolutionary Vergeltungswaffen – so-called ‘revenge weapons’ – such as the fearsome V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets to turn the tide in his favour.
However, the Allies possessed a secret weapon of their own which was to prove devastatingly effective. Using aerial reconnaissance photographs rendered three-dimensional with the aid of a simple stereoscope, photo interpreters at RAF Medmenham were able to tease out enough visual information to pinpoint the V-weapons’ manufacturing and launch sites.
Drawing upon extraordinary personal testimonies and employing modern computer graphics, Operation Crossbow premieres at 9pm on June 4th, and tells a little-known yet vitally important wartime story.
