Posted: 9/5/2012 8:34:57 AM EDT
I visited the museum of Science and Industry in Chicago last weekend and thought I'd share some pics of the U-505 and one of the last remaining Stuka's .
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This is the very first thing you see when you enter the main gallery holding the U 505 after viewing a well done multimedia presentation about the hunting of and capture of this sub. It struck me intensely powerful coming literally face to face with this machine.  " />
This U-boat sunk only 8 ships in a very checked service history but survived a direct bomb hit, the suicide of one her captains in front of his men and multiple sabotage attempts by the French resistance prior to her capture..Lucky or not ??? given the fatality rate of U-boats I'd say she had nine lives and needed them all!  " />
You can almost hear the scream as it starts to push over into it's dive. 
And the last thing any rear gunner in a Stuka wanted to see ACHTUNG SPITFIRE!! |
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Cool! I've never seen any pics of the Stuka flying without the wheel-covers. Was it pretty common? Not sure, but this version was captured in North Africa and I know the Luftwaffe had special desert modifications for many of their aircraft. I don't know how often they removed the spats for North Africa, but it was essentially normal to remove them for winter time operations on the Eastern Front. They were a pretty bad design for wet, muddy, snowy fields as they'd get packed full of crap. |