Base: Aldergrove
Take off time: 0723 hrs
Op: A/S Patrol

19 Jul, 1943 - At 15.42 hours, the inbound boat was attacked by the British Liberator aircraft FL977 (59 Sqdn RAF/H, pilot F/L E.E. Allen, RCAF) in the Bay of Biscay. The port wing of the aircraft was hit by AA fire in the first attack run, so they broke off the attack, circled U-667 and exchanged gunfire. The Liberator then dropped a depth charge from 3300 feet to force the boat to dive, but it overshot by 75 yards and did not explode. At 16.33 hours, the next attack was made from low level, but the two depth charges missed ahead. AA fire hit the aircraft ten times and the port waist gunner was badly wounded, so the pilot decided to head for home. (Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)

An excerpt from the memoirs of F/L EE Allen DFC

"...at almost the westerly limit of our patrol, we located a U-boat on the surface and started in on an attack "depth charge". At extreme range we were hit on the leading edge of the left wing, so, thinking discretion would be the better part of valour, we broke off the attack, expecting we would persuade him to dive and then we would get him with a homing torpedo. We tried every trick in the book to get him to dive, but no dice. He stayed on top. After about an hour of playing games, we were running out of time - our fuel required we leave soon or run out before we got home. We decided we would have to attack with our depth charges. Knowing the effectiveness of the four cannon turret behind the conning tower, we tried to manoeuvre to get an attack in from the bow. He manoeuvred to prevent this. Our final tactic was to go into a steep turn around him trying to get ahead of his conning tower. We tried left and right turns - he could turn direction and turn faster than we could..."

ORB states the following: "At 1545 hours, position 45'14'N, 16'40'W, sighted 750-ton U-boat, black in colour, fully surfaced, 025 Green, 8 miles distant. Aircraft dived to attack from 1,1/2 miles and U-boat made violent evasive turns to port and opened fire with cannon. Aircraft circled for 20 minutes and fired 200 rounds of .5 M.G. Aircraft hit in port wing. Aircraft climbed to 3,500 feet and made a stern to bow attack with one depth charge, which overshot 75 yards. Aircraft manoeurvred for some time, feinting to leave and then approaching to 200 yards to make M.G attacks. At 1440 hours, closed from starboard beam. Port beam gun fired 100 rounds until gunner was wounded. Aircraft crossed ahead of U-boat at 75 feet and remaining depth charges fell 100 feet ahead of U-boat. On return to base, ten hits counted on aircraft".

Crew on this day: F/L E.E. Allen (capt) - Sgt H. Jones (sec pilot) - F/O G.W. LaForme (Nav-B) - F/O A.W. Henry - P/O H.G. Barton - P/O G.W. Flieger - P/O J. Parsons

U-667

Type VIIC
Ordered15 Aug, 1940
Laid down16 Aug, 1941
Howaldtswerke Hamburg AG, Hamburg (werk 816)

Launched
29 Aug, 1942
Commissioned
21 Oct, 1942
Oblt. Heinrich Schroeteler (Knights Cross)

Commanders
21 Oct, 1942 - May, 1944
Kptlt. Heinrich-Andreas Schroeteler (Knights Cross)

10 Jul, 1944 - 25 Aug, 1944
Kptlt. Karl-Heinz Lange

Career
5 patrols
21 Oct, 1942 - 31 May, 1943 5. Flottille (training)
1 Jun, 1943 - 25 Aug, 1944 7. Flottille (front boat)

Successes
1 ship sunk for a total of 7,176 GRT2 warships sunk for a total of 1,171 tons
1 warship a total loss for a total of 1,653 tons

Fate
Sunk 25 Aug, 1944 in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle, in position 46.00N, 01.30W, by a mine in the minefield Cinnamon. 45 dead (all hands lost).

See the 4 ships hit by U-667 - View the 5 war patrols

Attacks on this boat

29 May, 1943
At 15.40 hours, the boat was attacked by the British Catalina aircraft FP183 (190 Sqdn RAF/V, pilot S/L J.A. Holmes) between Iceland and the Faeroes. The aircraft was hit by AA fire during the strafing attack, but dropped six depth charges that fell about 30 metres astern. They then exchanged some gunfire, but U-667 soon dived. The Catalina had been hit in the port engine and the hull and the co-pilot was slightly wounded by a shell splinter. The aircraft made it safely back to Sullom Voe. (Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)

19 Jul, 1943
At 15.42 hours, the inbound boat was attacked by the British Liberator aircraft FL977 (59 Sqdn RAF/H, pilot F/L E.E. Allen, RCAF) in the Bay of Biscay. The port wing of the aircraft was hit by AA fire in the first attack run, so they broke off the attack, circled U-667 and exchanged gunfire. The Liberator then dropped a depth charge from 3300 feet to force the boat to dive, but it overshot by 75 yards and did not explode. At 16.33 hours, the next attack was made from low level, but the two depth charges missed ahead. AA fire hit the aircraft ten times and the port waist gunner was badly wounded, so the pilot decided to head for home. (Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)

24 Sep, 1943
Shortly before dawn the boat fought off an attack by a Leigh Light equipped Wellington aircraft (179 Sqdn RAF/P, pilot Sgt A.W. Ellis) off Portugal. Neither side suffered any damage, but U-667 was on her way into the Mediterranean and the Allied aircraft were now alerted.

In the evening the boat was attacked by another Wellington (179 Sqdn RAF/D, pilot F/O A. Chiltern) and slightly damaged.

(Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)

25 Sep, 1943
At 03.09 hours, the boat fought off an attack by a British Wellington aircraft (179 Sqdn RAF/Q, pilot F/S R.W. Dix). Its depth charges hung up due to damage by AA fire and further hits in the port engine and the starboard wing forced the aircraft to return to base.

At 10.35 hours, U-667 was attacked by another Wellington (179 Sqdn RAF/R, pilot F/S D.J. McMahon) with six depth charges that fell close.

(Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)

25 Sep, 1943
Aircraft attack, aircraft shot down:British Wellington Mk.XIV (179 Sqdn RAF/F, pilot S/L G.H.M. Riddell)

At 22.18 hours, the boat was attacked by a Leigh Light equipped Wellington which was hit by AA fire during the attack run with depth charges. It was seen flying away with the light still switched on and later a SOS message was heard. The aircraft did not return from patrol and was reported missing with its crew of six.

(Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)

26 Sep, 1943
At 10.40 hours, the boat was located and attacked by yet another Wellington aircraft (179 Sqdn RAF/X, pilot F/O S.H. Nicholson) searching for the missing aircraft, but its depth charges exploded astern.

Shortly thereafter the Germans spotted two other aircraft identified as Beaufighters, but were in fact Hudsons. Hudson AE505 (233 Sqdn RAF/T, pilot F/O A.G. Frandson) and Hudson EW924 (48 Sqdn RAF/N, pilot F/O E.L. Ashbury) strafed the boat and fired rockets - both aircraft were damaged by AA fire and had to return to base. U-667 had finally to give up the attempt to break through to the Mediterranean and returned to base with extensive damage. Within 2 days the boat had experienced no less than 8 air attacks, shot down one attacker and damaged three others.

(Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)

16 Apr, 1944
The boat unsuccessfully attacked a "destroyer escort" from a hunter-killer group with a torpedo but was in turn hunted by same group for 12 hours before managing to slip away. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 510)

7 recorded attacks on this boat.

During WWII, the RAF used three-letter codes to identify their aircraft from a distance. Two large letters were painted before the roundel, which signified the squadron to which the aircraft belonged, and another letter was painted after the roundel which indicated the individual aircraft. Aditionally, there was the individual serial number for each aircraft, which was painted in a much smaller size, usually somewhere at the rear of the aircraft: (more)

Codes used by RAF 59 Squadron:

PJ Sep 1938 - Sep 1939
TR Sep 1939 - Oct 1942
1 Aug 1943 - Jul 1944
WE Jul 1944 - Oct 1945
BY Oct 1945 - Jun 1946, Dec 1947 - Oct 1950