Interesting U-Boat Equipment

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Macgregor the Hammer

An observation man-kite that was standard equipment on Type IXD1 & IXD2



A F0cke-Achgelis Fa 330 Bachstelze. Essentially an Auto-gyro towed by cable.

That must have been fun duty on the North Atlantic!!

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Not if the boat was suddenly pounced on by aircraft.

I posted this somewher in the forum in 2015, possibly the Bilge(Armistead had referenced it) or who,what ,where thread, I cannot recall; and it's been one of my desktop screen-saver photos since 2015. The gizmo was only used in the far South Atlantic and indian Oceans due to heavy aircover in the primary North Atlantic theatre. U-177, U-181, and U-852 all carried one; and they were type 1XD2 boats. In case of a crash dive, the cable would be immediately released allowing the aircraft to autorotate gently to the surface...apparently the crewman- lookout was...expendible. A serious waste of Reichsmarks imho: only one ship was ever sunk using the rotor-kite!