My old friend Tom in NJ informs me that the Spitfire 1A serial number P9306 is a survivor of the Battle of Britain and flew with No 74 Sqdn RAF.
The U-505 was captured on Sunday June 4, 1944 off the coast of Rio de Oro, Africa and towed to Bermuda by the USS Guadalalcanal and then
to the USA. To preserve the secrecy, the submarines former crew and the 3000 memberes of the US Navy Task Force were sworn to silence and
after the wars end the story was released. On May 14, 1954, the U-505 began a voyage that took a month via the St Lawrence Seaway and three
of the Great Lakes to arrive in Chicago at the museum building
The RAF museum example is at RAF Hendon, where I saw her a while back. It might interest you to know that that airframe is virtually airworthy but they aren't interested in risking it because it is probably the finest extant example. They brought this plane out for some possible involvement in the Battle of Britain movie during filming in 1968 but in the end it wasn't included.
Bob
As far as capture of U-505 is concerned, there's a great account of the action in the book, Eight Bells And All's Well (Norton, 1965) by Rear Admiral Vince Gallery, who commanded Task Group 22.3 when it captured the boat.
"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' "
Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring
I wonder what happened to it; I think that it would have been during the mid war period and I believe that it was on show/display on the River Thames, London. Perhaps it was broken up as scrap eventually?
I believe that by the wars end the RAF had a flying example of pretty much every significant German aircraft which were used for test and evaluation purposes. Presumably some of these aircraft are now on show at Hendon and other museums. I did hear of one slightly amusing account of how a Luftwaffe pilot somehow got himself lost over Northern Ireland without realising it and thought that he was flying over England. On turning for "home" he crossed a stretch of water which he thought was the English channel but was intact the Irish sea. Having safely crossed what he thought was the English channel he decided that the best thing to do would be to land on what he thought was an occupied French airfield to find out exactly where he was. When he did land he, of course, found out the embarrassing truth that he had landed in England by mistake. This is a good example of how at least one airworthy enemy aircraft was obtained.
Retired Admiral Gallery who was in charge of the task force that captured the U505 off the coast of Africa on 4 June 1944 lobbied to rescue it from being used as a Naval gunnery target in the 1950's when stored in Groton, CT. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago came up with the funding and they brought it via the Saint Lawrence and Great Lakes to Lake Michigan and then brought it across the street to the museum where it's on display now. Look for Gallery's book called U505. It's an interesting read.
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It was the first ship captured on the high seas by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812.
the task force that captured the U505 off the coast of Africa on 4 June 1944
This was one of the Enigma Cipher machine captures. That's why the 505 was important... They captured three through time and it had to be a secret or the Germans would have changed coding.
I wonder what happened to it; I think that it would have been during the mid war period and I believe that it was on show/display on the River Thames, London. Perhaps it was broken up as scrap eventually?
It could have been the U-776. It was displayed in London.
It sank while being towed out to sea where it was to be scuttled.
It could well have been the example in your post 17, Vincent, and thank-you for finding it. I believe that items of equipment such as this and other items like aircraft for example were put on public display and a small fee charged for people to have a look round and then the proceeds were given to service charities. It wasn't always captured enemy equipment that was used as sometimes British equipment was displayed.
And the real tragedy was how much of this intriguing materiel was destroyed by neglect and a savage winter just after the war. All those aircraft, left out in the open for "future evaluation" (including some interesting "experimental' jobs), suffered water ingress from all that lovely English "liquid sunshine".
So, winter rolls around with a vengeance, the water freezes and "pops" riveted joints all over the place.
Enter the bulldozers and fire-axes (and the scrap merchants), to make the place look "tidy".
How many "surplus" British aircraft conveniently suffered the same fate post-war? Probably, nobody cared; they just wanted their saucepans back. And thereby, hangs another tale.
With the onset of war and rationing, nutrition became a serious problem. As was later discovered in India, aluminium cookware is NOT a good thing for folk with a low-iron diet. You get iron from red meat, or VAST amounts of certain green, leafy vegetables. The alternate source is the microscopic amounts scraped from iron vessels during preparation and cooking.
A notional return to old-fashioned iron pots during the rationing times may have provided just enough dietary iron to keep things working.
In the absence of sufficient iron, aluminium is toxic to the human system and causes serious nervous issues, by accumulating in the brain and playing merry hell with its function. A famous example is Buddy Ebsen, of "Beverly Hillbillies" fame who was the original actor to play the "Tin Man" in "Wizard of Oz". All that Aluminium-powder "make-up" got to him very badly and the rest is history.
and flew with No 74 Sqdn RAF.
PM
Originally Posted by 
