Originally posted by rwingettU-boats were well armed and more than capable of taking down a plane, and in fact did this often, rather than losing time submerging and in danger of being depth charged. In fact, they would also often prefer to sink a lone ship with cannon fire than torpedos, of which they could only carry a limited quantity and not wholly reliable. Their surface speed made them faster than most surface vessels, especially merchant ships. Most subs ran on the surface on diesel power rather than underwater on batteries. I stand to be corrected but underwater endurance was maybe 24 hours.
U-boats were designed to sink ships, not shoot down aircraft. I doubt a u-boat would engage an aircraft in combat unless it was attacked on the surface. I also doubt that a Canadian "weather airplane" would have the wherewithal to attack a u-boat. I think perhaps Shavixmir has distorted the facts over the years.
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Originally posted by darvlayMy maternal grandfather was a Hungarian politician who escaped Hungary with the communist takeover and came to America with his family.
Tell me something interesting about your family or a member of your family.
My Aunt is a fashion designer in Toronto who specializes in powersuits for female news anchors.
My Great Uncle, whom I've only met twice, is a Yakuza in the Japanese mafia. He's missing half of his pinky finger and when I met him the first time (Christmas 1987) he gave me a thousand dollars in fifties in a bankroll.
Originally posted by darvlayMy maternal grandmother was half Cherokee. :-)
Tell me something interesting about your family or a member of your family.
Seriously, she really was. (yeah, I know, 95% of Americans claim to have a grandparent that was half-Cherokee)
OK, here's one that's a little less common (and hopefully more interesting): one of my ancestors (and this goes back a few generations) was Charlemagne
Originally posted by The PlumberMy grandfather was an old indian fighter . (My grandmother was an old indian .)
My maternal grandmother was half Cherokee. :-)
Seriously, she really was. (yeah, I know, 95% of Americans claim to have a grandparent that was half-Cherokee)
OK, here's one that's a little less common (and hopefully more interesting): one of my ancestors (and this goes back a few generations) was Charlemagne
Originally posted by buffalobillI stand corrected. It appears many more aircraft were shot down by u-boats than I had thought.
U-boats were well armed and more than capable of taking down a plane, and in fact did this often, rather than losing time submerging and in danger of being depth charged. In fact, they would also often prefer to sink a lone ship with cannon fire than torpedos, of which they could only carry a limited quantity and not wholly reliable. Their surface speed ...[text shortened]... an underwater on batteries. I stand to be corrected but underwater endurance was maybe 24 hours.
http://uboat.net/history/aircraft_losses.htm
http://uboat.net/history/fight_back_order.htm
I hereby retract my critique of Shavixmir's story.