Weekend in Chicago (Part II)

My sharing of images from my recent weekend in Chicago continues with a batch of photos from my visit with friends to the Museum of Science and Industry. (To start at the beginning of this series, click here.)


Left: Friends Nate, Liana, Curtis and Phil – Saturday, August 11, 2012.

Notes Wikipedia:

Located in Chicago, in the Hyde Park neighborhood between Lake Michigan and the University of Chicago, [the Museum of Science and Industry] is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Initially endowed by Sears, Roebuck and Company president and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, it first opened in 1933 during the Century of Progress Exposition. It is also the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere.

Among its diverse and expansive exhibits, the Museum features a full size replica coal mine, a German submarine (U-505) captured during World War II, a 3,500-square-foot (330 m2) model railroad, the first diesel-powered streamlined stainless-steel passenger train (Pioneer Zephyr [right]), and the Apollo 8 spacecraft which flew the first humans to the Moon.

Based on 2009 attendance, the Museum of Science and Industry was the second largest cultural attraction in Chicago.

Above and below: Although the U-505 exhibit features a German submarine, or u-boat, I nevertheless found it of particular interest given that my grandfather, Aub Bayly, was lost at sea in 1943 when the Australian hospital ship Centaur was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.

Above and below: The U-505, a German Type IXC U-boat built for service in the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Captured on June 4, 1944 by United States Navy Task Group 22.3, it yielded codebooks, an Enigma machine and other secret materials that assisted Allied code breaking operations.

Above: Standing at left with (from left) Phil, John, Curtis and Liana.

Notes Wikipedia:

All but one of U-505's crew were rescued by the Navy task group. The submarine was towed to Bermuda in secret, her crew was interned at a US prisoner of war camp where they were denied access to International Red Cross visits. The Navy classified the capture as top secret and prevented its discovery by the Germans.

In 1954, U-505 was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois and is now a museum ship.

She is one of six U-boats that were captured by Allied forces during World War II, and one of four German World War II U-boats that survive as museum ships. She is the only Type IXC still in existence.

Above: Phil inside U-505.

Above: Nate, Phil, John, Liana, Noelle and Curtis at the U-505 exhibit in the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago – Saturday, August 11, 2012.


NEXT: Part III


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Weekend in Chicago (Part I)
Chicago (2008)
An Afternoon at the Science Museum of Minnesota

Images: Michael J. Bayly.