This enormous concrete dome-shaped bunker was built between 1943 and 1944 as a facility to construct, store and launch V2 missiles on London and major sites in southern England.
Located in on old French chalk quarry, the dome covered a huge network of tunnels, storage facilities, and rocket preparation workshops which were constructed by thousands of slave labourers.
Of course, with a site of this scale and its location in Northern France, it didn’t take long for the allied forces to become aware of the bunker and repeatedly bombed La Couple as part of Operation Crossbow – using the bunker-busting, Tallboy earthquake bombs to disrupt construction and render the site inoperable. It was captured by the Allies in September 1944 having never launched a V2.
Today the site is a museum and planetarium, offering visitors an insight into its construction and taking them on a journey to space – using the technology initially borne from the creation of the V2 itself.