The early computer based on Turing’s ACE design at the National Physical Laboratory was called Pilot ACE.
Alan Turing designed the original Automatic Computing Engine, or ACE, while working at the NPL. The full ACE was an ambitious design, but construction progressed slowly. After Turing left the laboratory, the NPL team built a smaller and more practical version known as Pilot ACE. James Wilkinson took a leading role in completing the project, with contributions from Donald Davies, Harry Huskey, and Mike Woodger.
Pilot ACE ran its first program on 10 May 1950 and was demonstrated publicly later that year. It used roughly 800 vacuum tubes and mercury delay-line memory. Although intended as a prototype, its speed and floating-point capabilities made it useful for scientific and engineering calculations. It entered operational service in late 1951.
The name is sometimes confused with Automatic Computing Engine, which describes Turing’s larger design rather than the completed pilot machine. Pilot ACE was not a version of Babbage’s Difference Engine, and “Golem” refers to a separate early computer project. The machine is remembered as one of Britain’s earliest successful stored-program computers.