In 1941 the German Navy commissioned its latest submarine, the U-134 and as it slid out of harbour to join the 5th U boat flotilla, Captain-Lieutenant Rudolf Schendel keenly anticipated the mission ahead. You may be wondering why this Type 7C U Boat should feature in a Plane Tale but bear with me as I introduce the K-74. Built a year after the U-134, the K 74 came from a company with an interesting origin, the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation. This is their intriguing story.

The Type VIIc U-Boat

One of the few U Boats to survive the war.

Zeppelins over London

A British recruitment poster

The Goodyear Zeppelin Airdock

The Airdock interior

The Goodyear K Class blimp

K-Class blimp arrives in Gibraltar

The U-134’s last patrol

The U-134 survives an attack

A K-Class on patrol

Attack report of the engagement between K-74 and U134

A K-Class is loaded with Depth Charges

The K-Class crew man their gun

HMS Rother finally sinks U-134 with all hands

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to NSA, UK National Archives, Darkone,  US Library of Congress, the Goodyear Zeppelin company, USN, Grossnick Roy A, Royal Navy and the US Naval Institute.