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US bombe

The United States National Cryptologic Museum is a museum of cryptography history, affiliated with the National Security Agency (NSA). Located at 39.112° N 76.776° W, adjacent to NSA Headquarters, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, the museum collection contains thousands of artifacts, including a WW II German Enigma machine and a bombe used to break it, and displays covering the history of American cryptology and of the people, machines, techniques and locations concerned.

Initially housing NSA artifacts for viewing by employees, the museum quickly developed into a unique collection of US cryptologic history. The museum opened to the public on December 16, 1993.

The museum hosts approximately 50,000 visitors annually from all over the world, and gives tours for students and children to teach cryptology’s impact on history and the possibility of employment in the field.

Adjacent to the museum is the National Vigilance Park, where three aircraft, used in reconnaissance, are on display. The US Army Seminole RU-8D Reconnaissance Plane represents the Army Airborne Signals Intelligence contribution in the Vietnam War, and a Hercules C-130 transport, modified to look like a reconnaissance-configuration C-130A, memorializes a US Air Force aircraft shot down over Soviet Armenia during the Cold War. Finally, the park contains a US Navy Skywarrior EA-3B, commemorating a mission in the Mediterranean on January 25, 1987 in which all seven crew died.

The museum and park are open to the public and admission is free.

• Bletchley Park
• Arlington Hall
• International Spy Museum
• Red telephone

• Jack E. Ingram, Ensuring the Legacy: The Story of the National Cryptologic Museum, Studies in Intelligence, 47(3), 2003 [1]
• Jack E. Ingram, The National Cryptologic Museum: The First Ten Years — A Personal Story. Intelligencer 14(1) (Winter/Spring 2004), pp101–110.
• Louis Kruh, A Pictorial Tour of the National Cryptologic Museum, 18(4), October 1994, pp381–389.

• National Cryptologic Museum
• The National Cryptologic Museum Foundation
• A review of the museum
• A set of photos of the museum by Austin Mills