Re: Cipher Challenge - Fate of WWII Colossi

Dear John

I don't expect there to be any primary source material as I believe that the statement in the media reports is incorrect.  As you may appreciate it was rather hectic in the days during the Cipher Challenge and in the heat of the moment mistakes can happen.  In this case none of us picked up the error in a media release and unfortunately it has been propagated further.  The TNMOC website copy will be updated as soon as we can but of course we cannot recall any erroneous releases that were sent out.

On the matter of the machines' fate, I heard from Dr J V Field today who said:

"... the  report on the work of Newman's group ([Good, Michie and Timms], _General Report on Tunny ..._), declassified in 2000, makes it abundantly clear that the Colossi were considered very useful indeed and believed to have further capabilities.  It is consequently inconceivable that they were all destroyed at the end of the war.  But it is perfectly conceivable that, if they continued to be used at BP's successor institution, it might be judged expedient to put such a story about.  Hearsay of the survival of Colossi is consequently credible"

Best wishes

Andy


-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Clark 
Sent: 18 November 2007 23:58
To: BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/[email protected]
Subject: Re: [BPARK] Cipher Challenge - Fate of WWII Colossi

Sadly I have no primary source material on the fate of the Colossus machines.  It is widely believed that two machines made their way back to GCHQ and remained there until the 60's but it's hearsay I'm afraid.
Thanks for your good wishes on the fundraising.  We really hope that we get some serious interest from donors to the museum quickly.  It's vital for us to secure some short-term funding (up to £50k) to keep the momentum going while we search for the big money.
Andy

-----Original Message-----
(snip)

On the subject of media reports, I have noted that some of these have 
included the story that all Colossi were broken up after WWII on 
Churchill's orders. Do you know if any primary source documents exist to 
bear this out? There are similar stories about re the bombes, and it has 
always seemed more likely to me that at least a few of both machines 
were moved with GCHQ to Eastcote.

Paul Gannon seems to have searched the archives on this aspect of 
Colossus pretty thoroughly (see end of chapter 23 of his book). However, 
he does not mention any orders from Churchill and says that "some" 
machines were retained.

If you can shed any light on any of this I should be most interested.

Best wishes,

John Pettifer (Guide at BP 1999-2004)
(snip)