[Milsurplus] Chicago Museum U-505

[w8au at sssnet.com]

Hue:

Its tough to swallow the decisions of business organizations, and the Museum
of Science and Industry definitely is a business when it comes to attracting
visitors who pay to get in.

A few years ago they moved U-505 inside, established a huge addition to
cover the boat, decorated the interior to establish the atmosphere of a sub
in the open sea, (tilted) and precedes this with three large displays 
and videos
preparing the visitors for the grand entrance into the boat location.

What they have done is eliminate most of the necessary maintenance items
that were formerly needed when it sat for years in the water.

I do think they missed a great opportunity for selling or auctioning 
the material,
however.   And as for the UC-97, they probably can't undertake the project for
budget reasons.

Such is life....

Perry

At 06:53 AM 8/24/2012, Hue Miller wrote:
>"We were trying to get a fix on the location of the only known WW I German
>U-Boat sunk in fresh water; that of UC-97 sunk in Lake Michigan off
>Wilmette.
>We approached the Museum of Science and Industry and the Director, Vic
>Danelov,
>about an expedition to raise UC-97 and put her next to U-505.  When he asked
>why,
>I told him that this Museum would be the only one in the world with a WW I
>and a
>WW II German U-Boat.  "I don't even want this one!" was his reply.  And he
>paid a
>scrap dealer to come to the Museum and cart off TWO ENTIRE storerooms full
>of
>spare parts from U-805 that were to be used to keep U-505 in repair!  Just
>threw
>this priceless stuff in the trash!"
>
>Harry Cooper, 1983.
>via: Hue Miller
>
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