In moments of crisis, Britain has repeatedly produced ideas that changed the course of history through ingenuity, experimentation, and quiet determination. Many of these breakthroughs were created by engineers, inventors, and thinkers working under immense pressure, their contributions largely unseen at the time and later overshadowed by the events they helped shape.

The Secret Dome VR exists to restore one of those stories to living memory. Through virtual reality, we are bringing audiences inside the invention of the Dome Trainer: an early immersive training system that transformed air defence during the Second World War and quietly saved thousands of lives.

By combining rigorous historical research with interactive storytelling, our mission is not only to tell this story, but to allow people to experience the urgency, ingenuity, and human stakes behind it, to understand how this overlooked invention became a direct ancestor of the immersive technologies we use today.

What we're building

The Secret Dome places audiences inside one of the most important, and least known, inventions of the Second World War: the Dome Trainer, an early immersive simulation system that trained hundreds of thousands of anti-aircraft gunners and saved countless lives.

Immersion

Step inside the world of the Dome Trainer, a wartime invention that recreated the terror of air attack long before digital technology existed. Through spatial sound, faithfully reconstructed environments, and embodied presence, The Secret Dome VR places you inside history rather than observing it from a distance.

Exploration

Uncover the story of a forgotten British innovation that helped change the course of the Second World War. From personal archives and original research to highly detailed weapons and equipment, the experience invites you to explore how one idea evolved from a sketch into a global training system.

Learn as wartime gunners learned: by tracking, anticipating, and reacting under pressure. Carefully designed interactions mirror real Dome training techniques, as well as use of these techniques iin thee battlefield, transforming historical knowledge into lived experience at the moment it mattered most.

Interaction

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