F. W. Winterbotham facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
F. W. Winterbotham
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F.W. Winterbotham in Royal Flying Corps uniform
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| Birth name | Frederick William Winterbotham |
| Born | 16 April 1897 Stroud, Gloucestershire, England |
| Died | 28 January 1990 (aged 92) Blandford, Dorset, England |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/ |
 British Army Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | 1914–1918, 1939–1946 |
| Rank | Group Captain |
| Battles/wars | World War I World War II |
| Awards | Commander of the British Empire (CBE) |
| Other work |
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Frederick William Winterbotham (16 April 1897 – 28 January 1990) was a British Royal Air Force officer. During World War II, he was in charge of sharing top-secret information called Ultra intelligence. His book, The Ultra Secret, was the first popular book in Britain to tell the story of Ultra.
Contents
Early Life and War Service
Frederick William Winterbotham was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. He was the only son of Frederick Winterbotham and Florence Vernon Graham. He went to school at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey.
When World War I began in 1914, he joined the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. In 1916, he switched to the Royal Flying Corps and became a fighter pilot. On July 13, 1917, he was shot down during a dogfight in Passchendaele. He was captured by the enemy and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. During this time, he learned German.
A Secret Agent Between Wars
After the war ended in 1918, Winterbotham studied law at Christ Church, Oxford. He earned a law degree but didn't want a regular office job. He tried farming in different places, but it didn't work out.
By 1929, he was back in Britain. He was then asked to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). He was assigned to a new part of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI-6) that focused on air intelligence. His job was to find out about military aviation in countries that might become enemies. He found secret agents and collected their reports.
One important report showed that Germany was secretly training military pilots with the Soviet Union. This was against the rules of the Treaty of Versailles. An agent also told Winterbotham that the Nazis, who were not yet in power, wanted to make friends with important people in Britain.
This led to a visit from a Nazi leader named Alfred Rosenberg in 1932. Winterbotham, with MI-6 knowing everything, showed Rosenberg around Britain. He introduced him to people and pretended to be friendly. Neither Rosenberg nor the agent knew that Winterbotham was a spy.
For the next seven years, Winterbotham often visited Germany. He seemed like he supported the Nazis, which allowed him to meet very important German leaders. He met Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring, who was in charge of the German air force (Luftwaffe). Winterbotham gathered a lot of information about the Luftwaffe and Germany's plans. He also helped with aerial reconnaissance flights over Italy and Germany in 1939–40.
The Ultra Secret Mission
When World War II started in 1939, Winterbotham's role changed. As a high-ranking member of MI6, he knew about Britain's secret operation to break German codes. This operation was focused on the German Enigma machine. The information gained from these broken codes was incredibly valuable and completely real. It was so important that it was given a special name: "Top Secret Ultra," or just "Ultra".
In April 1940, code-breakers at Bletchley Park started to decipher German air force messages. Winterbotham realized that a lot more of this secret information would soon be available. He came up with a plan for how to handle it. His boss gave him permission to create a new organization. This group would translate, deliver, and keep the decoded messages completely secret.
Winterbotham took charge of this process. He created "Special Liaison Units" (SLUs). These small teams were sent to each military headquarters that received Ultra messages. An SLU had a few RAF officers and enlisted men. They were usually low in rank so they wouldn't attract attention.
The SLU teams received Ultra messages by radio from Britain. These messages were encrypted using Britain's strongest code. The SLU members would then decrypt the messages and give them to the commander. Often, the commander was the only person allowed to know where the information came from. The SLU was also responsible for getting the Ultra message back after the commander read it and keeping it locked away.
The SLU also had to make sure the commander didn't tell anyone else about the secret source of the information. They also had to ensure the commander didn't act too obviously on the information, which might make the Germans suspicious. This was a difficult job, especially when dealing with commanders who were much higher in rank. If there were problems, Winterbotham would fly out to help solve them. He had the full support of the Allied governments. Both Britain and the United States wanted to protect the secret of the Enigma decryptions at all costs.
Sharing the Secret: The Ultra Secret
Even after the war, the secret of Ultra was kept hidden. Then, in 1974, Winterbotham's book, The Ultra Secret, was published. This was the first book in English about Ultra. It explained what Ultra was and revealed Winterbotham's important role in sharing and using the secret information.
Winterbotham's book was the first detailed account of how the Allies used the huge amount of intelligence from Enigma. This information was used on the western and eastern European fronts, in the Mediterranean, North Africa, and most importantly, in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Some people have criticized Winterbotham's book for having some mistakes. Winterbotham admitted that he was not a code-breaker and didn't fully understand that part of the Ultra operation. He also wrote the book from memory, without access to official records. For example, he didn't give much detail about the important work done by Poland's code-breaking team before the war.
One famous story in the book is about Winston Churchill and the Coventry Blitz. During the heavy German bombing raids of 1940–1941, the city of Coventry was badly bombed on November 14–15. Winterbotham claimed that Ultra messages had given clear warning of the raid. He said Churchill decided not to take special actions to avoid letting the Germans know their codes were being read. However, other historians have shown this story is not true. Peter Calvocoressi, who worked at Bletchley Park, said that "Ultra never mentioned Coventry." Churchill thought the raid was going to be on London.
Winterbotham believed that the war was a very close call. He wondered if the Allies would have won without the help of Ultra.
Helping the Dambusters
Winterbotham also played a role in the famous "Dambusters" raid. In February 1943, James Holland says that Winterbotham responded to a letter from Barnes Wallis, who was asking for help with his plan. Winterbotham's letter made sure that the chief of the air staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, knew about Wallis's plan and supported it. Portal then approved the Dambusters raid, code-named Operation Chastise, in May 1943. This happened even though Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, was against Wallis's idea.
