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Old 8th Dec 2018, 11:21 am   #41
SteveCG
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

Following the link that Aitor Eneko gave in post no. 30, which shows other 4 wheel machines, and looking at the photo again in post no. 28 it seems that these models do not have the later plug-board. I wonder what markings the wheels (rotors) have - letter or number?
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Old 21st Jan 2019, 12:20 am   #42
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Default Enigma machine rotors

I would have posted this in 'Radio shops in Tottenham Court Road' but that thread is apparently locked.

Reading that thread brought back many happy memories of Tottenham Court Road, Lisle Street and Edgware Road in the late '60's.

I have heard it said (though it may be an Urban Myth) that you could pick up army surplus Enigma machine rotors in shops like Proops post war - though of course no one at the time knew what they were.

There must have been many thousands of captured Enigma machines, and they can't all have been flogged by the government to Empire / Commonwealth countries ('Unbreakable you know old boy - a bargain'), so it is not impossible.

Does anyone know if it's true?
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Old 21st Jan 2019, 2:14 pm   #43
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

I did wonder if a lot were deliberately scrapped to keep the secrets about what Station X achieved during the war secret.
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Old 21st Jan 2019, 2:45 pm   #44
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

Would they necessarily have been real enigma parts? There were various later copies and related things EG Typex.

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Old 21st Jan 2019, 5:28 pm   #45
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

Well if I'd spent all that time and energy decoding enigma and then i captured thousands of the machines, I would certainly NOT WANT to go through it all again...so id scrap them once and for all!
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Old 21st Jan 2019, 6:05 pm   #46
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil G4SPZ View Post
I recall seeing a computer program demonstrated at an IEE meeting that emulated Enigma. Perhaps there’s an app for smartphones nowadays
I think there is more than one but I found this one had nice graphics.

Peter
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Old 21st Jan 2019, 8:17 pm   #47
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

We used a similar type machine, the American made KL7 well into the 60's. Truth is a KL7 was captured in Korea so it was rendered unsafe to use. However it was used as a double encryption device which no doubt you could do with two enigma machines, making it very hard to then decrypt a message into plain language. I often wonder why the Germans did not think of this but then in hindsight, a damn good job they didn't.
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Old 21st Jan 2019, 8:46 pm   #48
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

The British government went to great lengths after WWII to erase all traces that we had been breaking Enigma and Lorenz traffic. One or two Colossi went to what became GCHQ, the rest were taken to tiny pieces so no-one could deduce what the parts had been part of. They wanted other governments to use breakable cyphers unaware.

Giving them Enigma machines, or flogging machines on the open market might just have raised suspicions. There would also be Germans on the market as knowledge sources: 'No these are not rotors from any of our machines, and just look at the amount of wear on them!'

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Old 22nd Jan 2019, 12:12 am   #49
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

Eventually GCHQ destroyed the Colossus they had. In fact the Lorenz SZ42 that is at Bletchley is still formally owned by GCHQ, so it is strictly speaking only on loan.

It is a testimony to Tony Sale's dogged determination, and the fact that when he started the 14 year Colossus rebuild project, Tommy Flowers (Coslossus's original designer) was still alive, so his recollections of the design were somewhat important. Then the now elderly design team started coming forward, having squirreled away odd blueprints.

It is working most days at the National Museum of Computing.

Craig

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Old 22nd Jan 2019, 1:38 am   #50
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

It is worth the trip to see it ! (Quoth he, in Scotland)

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Old 22nd Jan 2019, 7:40 am   #51
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Default Re: ENIGMA machine being auctioned.

The whole Bletchley Park place is worth a visit. Quoth he from nearby Salisbury
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Old 22nd Jan 2019, 6:37 pm   #52
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Default Re: Enigma machine rotors

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolstan Dixie View Post
I have heard it said (though it may be an Urban Myth) that you could pick up army surplus Enigma machine rotors in shops like Proops post war - though of course no one at the time knew what they were.

There must have been many thousands of captured Enigma machines, and they can't all have been flogged by the government to Empire / Commonwealth countries ('Unbreakable you know old boy - a bargain'), so it is not impossible.

Does anyone know if it's true?
They may have been TypeX machines which were used by the British Services, several were used at BP to simulate Enigmas. IIRC, the Germans never broke the system. I've got a dynamotor power supply for the TypeX but unfortunately no machine!!!

Cheers

Roger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typex

Last edited by G3VKM_Roger; 22nd Jan 2019 at 6:38 pm. Reason: add URL
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