Bl**dy hell, nice one Ian, wondered about his career, many thanks again, Paul
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more info on the sinking
12 Oct. 1942, attacked with depth-charges by Liberator H/120 (S/L. T. Builoch, DFC) in position 5650N/2805W and sunk with all hands.
Liberator H, 120 Sqn,, on patrol 0842 - 1839 hrs.
S/L. T. Bulloch, DFC Pilot.
F/O. M. Layton Navigator.
Sgt. R. McColl Engineer.
Sgt. G. Turner WOp/AG.
Sgt. J. Secular WOp/AG.
Sgt. G. Clayton WOp/'AG.
"Mid-day on 12th October found Bulloch and his crew operating from Iceland, flying close escort for convoy ONS136 as it passed to the south-west of their base. It was then that one of the crew sighted the wake of an unidentified craft some eight miles away to starboard. Bulloch curved round after it and closed on the vessel out of the sun; as he straightened out the Liberator he saw that the cause of the wake was a submarine. The aircraft lined up on the stem of the U-boat and attacked almost exactly along its length. As the craft disappeared under the nose of his aircraft, Bulloch let go of his depth-charges in a very closely-spaced stick with only twenty-five feet between each. Two of them failed to leave the bomb-bay, but the remaining six splashed into the water with remarkable precision; had Bulloch stood on the deck of the boat and rolled his depth-charges over her side, he could hardly have positioned them to greater effect. One of the depth-charges exploded near the stern, two went off on each side of the hull and the sixth exploded next to the bow. Pieces of metal from the boat flew high into the air and a large oval chunk just missed the Liberator's rear turret. Her pressure hull ruptured in several places, the submarine broke up and sank, bringing the career of U 597 and the lives of her entire crew to an end." (Price, 1980}Comment
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I have subsequently become the current owner of this Soldbuch. A photo of Landgraf has still been elusive but there was an image that I found of the U-597 bridge crew which I believe includes Landgraf.
Below is a link to my website with Landgrafs career which includes the balance of his rank and career from Deutsche Dienstelles response to my inquiry.
http://aufhimmelzuhause.com/id439.htm
Cheers
JeremyComment
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nice story for this one! I remember seeing a period picture and guy had all three proficiency badges - WH, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. One can wonder, how many similiar had same "busy" military career.Comment
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Agree, seeing badges across branches of service is nice to see, not that common.Comment
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Great soldbuch of a man with a most interesting career. Hope more of his things turn up! BobComment
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