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Sending you here some of my photos and notes on Meteorites fairwater. Seemed easier here than in a private email.
As we know Shapeways had gone bust with their dumb management model and the programs they made for me and hundreds of others went bust too. Here are illustrations to help you responding to your private emails. Always happy to help you Ganthu. Hope it helps.
The Germans didn't allow much for their Type XVIIB crews for escapes and safety. It seemed to reflect different cultures and risk assessments vs technical goals, The British redesign at Barrow -in - Furness for this experimental sub converted its torpedo loading and the fairwater hatches into escape hatches with canvas trunks.
The large round hole on top in images below - notice is deliberately slightly off set from centerline because the bridge hatch was the same off centerline too. This to help align for crew escape - swimming free assents if they got into trouble - also affording another lookout position. The opening diameter same as the hatch below it.
Funny story I learned in my research was how the British to keep the Soviet inspector away from poking around too much (Potsdam Agreement) when the boat was up on the stocks in the Barrow shed out of the water - they electrified the submarine when it was not being worked on!
While it could be touched and walked on top or around inside still - there was a low voltage current running through it to make close inspections deliberately excruciatingly uncomfortable. LOL.
The small hole is for the single air search scope of course. It doubled as an attack scope on the original U-1407 too. The Brits were always impressed with German optics understandably.
HMS Meteorite (a Type XVIIB) was the last operational German U boat tested from the batch collected after the surrender as apart of Operation Deadlight.
The Royal Navy crew and the attending German scientists on its sea trials experienced for the first time what exhilaratingly real high-speed banking turns underwater was like.....controlled using the earliest aircraft style helm controls now common on all modern submarines.
A 'successful failure' as I call it, Meteorite was still an important small evolutionary step for the future coming only the following decade. If not 'an Albacore' still this under apricated sub made an impressive contribution to the submarine community what was possible thanks to Dr. Helmuth Walter.
Meanwhile 'in the states' at this same time a brilliant sharp-tongued Bureau of ships electrical engineer Captain named 'who gets things done ' Rickover was making his first visits to Oak Ridge.
HMS Meteorite (love that name - very appropriate) was scraped in 1949.
I'll finish this model some day
Steven
As we know Shapeways had gone bust with their dumb management model and the programs they made for me and hundreds of others went bust too. Here are illustrations to help you responding to your private emails. Always happy to help you Ganthu. Hope it helps.
The Germans didn't allow much for their Type XVIIB crews for escapes and safety. It seemed to reflect different cultures and risk assessments vs technical goals, The British redesign at Barrow -in - Furness for this experimental sub converted its torpedo loading and the fairwater hatches into escape hatches with canvas trunks.
The large round hole on top in images below - notice is deliberately slightly off set from centerline because the bridge hatch was the same off centerline too. This to help align for crew escape - swimming free assents if they got into trouble - also affording another lookout position. The opening diameter same as the hatch below it.
Funny story I learned in my research was how the British to keep the Soviet inspector away from poking around too much (Potsdam Agreement) when the boat was up on the stocks in the Barrow shed out of the water - they electrified the submarine when it was not being worked on!
While it could be touched and walked on top or around inside still - there was a low voltage current running through it to make close inspections deliberately excruciatingly uncomfortable. LOL.
The small hole is for the single air search scope of course. It doubled as an attack scope on the original U-1407 too. The Brits were always impressed with German optics understandably.
HMS Meteorite (a Type XVIIB) was the last operational German U boat tested from the batch collected after the surrender as apart of Operation Deadlight.
The Royal Navy crew and the attending German scientists on its sea trials experienced for the first time what exhilaratingly real high-speed banking turns underwater was like.....controlled using the earliest aircraft style helm controls now common on all modern submarines.
A 'successful failure' as I call it, Meteorite was still an important small evolutionary step for the future coming only the following decade. If not 'an Albacore' still this under apricated sub made an impressive contribution to the submarine community what was possible thanks to Dr. Helmuth Walter.
Meanwhile 'in the states' at this same time a brilliant sharp-tongued Bureau of ships electrical engineer Captain named 'who gets things done ' Rickover was making his first visits to Oak Ridge.
HMS Meteorite (love that name - very appropriate) was scraped in 1949.
I'll finish this model some day
Steven
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