Benjamin and I built a U boat

For one of Benjamin's home school assignments this year he had to write a research paper on any topic that interested him.  Now back when he was a Cub Scout, we spent the night a couple of times on the USS Kidd, "The Pirate of the Pacific," a Fletcher-class destroyer that is in Baton Rouge, and we learned all about it.  For this research paper topic, he wanted to look at the 'other side' and he selected the German U Boat. Believe it or not, the German U-boat depended on a milk cow just like our family does.  Who would have ever thought? An agricultural reference.  Read below to find out how!  In writing this paper, he learned a lot, but so did I. A few interesting facts about the U Boat:

• U boat stands for "unterseeboote," which is German for Undersea boat
• During WWII, U-boats sank 2,742 ships
• It could only stay underwater for a day
• U-boats hunted in wolf packs (3 or more u-boats together)
• It could travel for very long distances without refueling.
• The U-boat could stay out for a long time because of the 'milk cow.'  A Milk Cow was a very large U-boat that could give other U-boats food, torpedoes, and fuel.
• U-boats were the pride of the German Navy and 35,000 men served in them.

As he researched his topic, I thought it would be a good exercise to actually build a model of the German U-boat so that he could get a better understanding of it by visually seeing it, so I ordered one and when it came in, we'd work each night putting it together.  It was good 'guy-time' and we enjoyed working together and talking about it while we built it.  It was certainly easier to put together than other models that we had worked on.

Following the directions

The Admiral of the German U-boats was Admiral Donitz.  He was very boastful about the success of this craft and considered it an essential attack weapon.  It had a big cannon on it, but also had torpedoes that they could launch from very far away - 8 miles away, to be precise!  The Germans were so proud of the U-boat that at the end of the war, many captains scuttled them instead of surrendering them to Allied forces.

The U-boat on its display stand

I don't think I would have liked being in the cramped quarters of a U-boat and would have likely been claustrophobic.  Probably in an effort to entice men to serve on them, sailors on U-boats were given better rations than any other soldier.  The other fear Benjamin and I talked about was that if you were on a ship or an aircraft, you had at least an opportunity to survive - not so with a U-boat.  You were likely going to a deep undersea grave.

Almost done!

We learned that the most feared enemy of the U-boat was the hunter-killer group, consisting of an aircraft carrier, 4 or 5 destroyers and antisubmarine vessels.  Planes would be launched and U-boats would be located.  Depth charges could be dropped off of ships and would go down to the depth of the u-boat and blow up, sinking many u-boats.

German u-boat

In a interesting twist, we learned that on July 30, 1942, a u-boat U-166 was sunk in 5,000 feet of water not too terribly far away from where we live - 45 miles east-southeast of the lighthouse on Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River.  52 Germans lost their lives that day.  Mr. C.J. Christ, writing in the Daily Comet, explained that U-166 was laying mines in the jetty heads of the Mississippi River.  A few days later the SS Robert E. Lee left New Orleans full of people and was intercepted and sunk by U-166, killing 25 on board.

Mr. Christ surmises that the commanding officer of U-166 was relishing the thrill of sinking a large vessel and did not notice that the Robert E. Lee was being escorted by a Navy ship USS PC 566.  The naval escort vessel was attentive as PCC 566 saw the torpedo wake as it struck the Lee and promptly laid depth charges resulting in an oil slick on the surface and an odor of diesel fuel in the air.  This signaled the end of the lives of Hans Gunther Kuhlmann and 51 other Germans who went to a watery grave deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

Interestingly, in 2001, the wreckage of both the USS Robert E. Lee and the U-166 was located on the floor of the Gulf.  Here is a picture of the gun on the deck of the U-166:

Image Credit

If you look closely, you can see this gun on the deck of the model that we built. Amazingly, the detail of the model exactly matches this photograph, minus the seaweed, of course.  It is really a neat thing when history comes alive like this.  I am a visual person and seeing things helps me to learn it versus just reading about it.

U-boat model that Benjamin and I built

You can read more about what I summarized in THIS ARTICLE by Mr. Charles "C.J." Christ.

Benjamin and his U-boat

Finally, I'll tell you that Benjamin got an "A" on his research paper and we both benefited by learning something about history that happened to have some local significance.  We also learned about how "milk cows" were important to a German U-boat.  Most significantly, we enjoyed some good Father-Son time as well.

The Liberator

We always say that at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm, we're raising more than cows, chickens and crops.  We're raising a family.  Today's posting isn't farm related, but was a fun project that Benjamin and I worked on over several months.  We finally completed it last night.

We built a model airplane - a B-24D Liberator to be specific.  This aircraft was an American heavy bomber used during WWII and was used by several Allied air forces.  There were 18,400 of them produced and it still holds the distinction of being the most produced American military aircraft.  It was noted for sinking 93 U boats.  It carried a crew of 11 (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, radio operator, nose turret, top turret, two waist gunners, ball turret and tail gunner).  Of interesting note, Jimmy Stewart, (from Mr. Smith goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life) flew a B24 as a commanding officer.


This was quite a project!

It took a long time.  It required us to paint everything in intricate detail.  When we put the fuselage together, Benjamin said, "Why'd we have to paint the inside?  You can't even see it now."  Good question, Benjamin.

Fuselage together, wings and propellers on

We didn't get any glue on the carpet.  We were careful and used grocery store circulars to protect the carpet.  This came AFTER learning a tough lesson in Benjamin's room where we were painting.  Olive drab paint doesn't blend into oatmeal colored Berber carpet no matter how much you rub it. 

Gluing tiny parts of the turret together

I have to hand it to Revel, the maker of this model, as the directions were very clear. 


Affixing the landing gear

You can see the tail guns and the waist gunners from this angle.  There were 10 .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns on this bad boy.


Getting ready to start painting

We had originally glued the bomb bay doors shut, but then we removed them and glued them open where you could see the bombs.  For short range flights (< 400 miles) the Liberator could carry 8,000 pounds of bombs. 

A view of the bombs

Benjamin painted the underside of the Liberator a flat gray.  There were two style of paint and he selected the "Fightin' Sam" paint scheme.

Painting the Liberator

 Look at the detail.  The bombs have a yellow stripe painted on them.


Bombs away

The top of the B-24 was painted a camoflage green color.  

Starting to look good!

Roughly done, but there's still some detail left to paint.


The B24-D Liberator

Front view

You can see the detail of the Fightin' Sam nose art along with the emblems for major victories.
 

Fightin' Sam

Here is the model with all decals applied, a black strip painted on the leading edges of the wings, and yellow striped wing tips.  Nice! 

All "gussied" up.

More detail of the bombs - Benjamin's favorite part.


Bomb detail

At long last, we're done.  With mono filament fishing string, we hung the B24-D Liberator from the ceiling fan in Benjamin's bedroom in a dive bombing position.  What boy doesn't want a WWII bomber hanging from his ceiling?  It is facing his headboard.  As you lie in his bed, you can look up and if you use your imagination, you can almost hear "Fightin' Sam" coming in on a bombing run.  

The B24-D Liberator in all her glory

This was a pretty cool project.  This bomber was used in every combat theater in WWII and is now out of retirement and flying missions in Benjamin's room.