The hunter, the hunted and a good samaritan make up another World War II event. It started in Danzig at the Danziger Werft in 1941 when the Type VIIc submarine U-417 was laid down, launched on June 6, 1942 and commissioned in September of the same year. Oberleutnant zur See Wolfgang Schreiner was only 25 when he took command of the new U-boat, he turned 26 during the training period in the Baltic, he would not live to the age of 27.

The first war patrol started at Kiel on June 3, 1943 (three days short of a year since she had been launched). The route into the North Atlantic taken was probably not unlike that of most German ships, they went through the Kattegat, the Skagerrak into the North Sea, past Scapa Flow, into the Norwegian Sea and then moved through the Iceland-Faroes gap. It was there on June 11, 1943 (1 year and 5 days after she was launched) that the boat came to grief.

Flying a patrol in the area was a B-17 Fortress, "R" of 206 Squadron RAF Coastal Command, Wing Commander Ronald B. Thomson at the stick. It was at 1110 hrs. (British time) that they sighted a U-boat on the surface about 7 miles away (probably having been directed to the boat via an Ultra decrypt). Thomson adjusted his course and made all haste toward the enemy boat. The British aircraft was sighted by the U-boat crew and while taking evasive action, opened up with an accurate barrage of anti-aircraft fire.

The bomber was blasted from front to back, damage to the engines, nose, cockpit, bomb bay doors and even the rear turret, but Thomson and his crew did not falter in their attack. He dropped 4 depth charges which straddled the boat and did enough damage to sink her. About 2 dozen of her crew got off the boat and into the water (they were seen by Thomson and his men), but none of them were ever rescued.

Thomson's aircraft was in serious trouble, two of his engines were damaged and both of them soon quit. Not enough power to stay aloft, Thomson set her down in the rough waters of the North Atlantic. The dinghy was deployed and all ten men got out of the Fortress before she sank only 90 seconds later. They were "safe" but had no provisions as they had gone down with the ship. There was also another problem that they may not have been aware of, they were floating in a British minefield.

Surface vessels would make no attempt to rescue the downed aircrew, but a U.S. Navy PBY of VP-84 found the British airmen later that day. Lieutenant (j.g.) Douglas S. Vieira, UNSR attempted a landing in the rough sea, however one wing was caught by a wave and the plane nosed into the water tearing open the bow. The nine man crew, like the British crew, got into a dinghy before the PBY went under. It was a small miracle that every man from both aircraft survived the crash landings with no serious injuries, but not all would survive until rescue.

Another search plane was sent and sometime around noon on June 14 Squadron Leader J. A. Holmes, D.F.C. and his Catalina PBY of 190 Squadron found the survivors from the Fortress. He successfully put his plane down, but after picking up ten men his PBY was overweight and could not take off. To lighten the aircraft they drained 140 gallons of fuel, which allowed him to get her into the air.

Sadly the American crew was not so lucky, having been separated from the men they were trying to rescue, the raft was not located until June 16 when USS Symbol AM-123 picked up one live and one deceased airman, the remaining crewmen had died of exposure over the course of their ordeal.

Wing Commander (later Air Vice-Marshal, CB, DSO, DFC) Ronald B. Thomson, Flight Lieutenant John F. Clark, RAFVR and Flying Officer John L. Humphries, RAFVR were all awarded the DFC for this action.