Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The RAF Air-Sea Rescue Service in the Second World War
    The RAF Air-Sea Rescue Service in the Second World War
    The RAF Air-Sea Rescue Service in the Second World War
    Ebook213 pages1 hour

    The RAF Air-Sea Rescue Service in the Second World War

    By Norman Franks

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    When the Second World War began in 1939 it was thought that it would be fought along the same lines as the First World War, with the Allied air forces operating from both Britain and France. With the fall of Britains Northern European Allies in May 1940, all that changed. From then onwards, RAF aircraft operating over enemy and enemy-held territory necessitated flights across both the North Sea and the English Channel.This meant that aircrew in difficulties would be forced to come down in both of these bodies of water. Therefore it was essential that some form of rescue service be made available to fish these airman from the water. But there were no aircraft in existence at that time that were designed for such a task: initially all that could be done was to use land planes to help locate anyone in the water, drop a dinghy to them, and then guide a boat to their position.Obviously a quicker and more reliable means of rescue was needed, and this came in the shape of the Supermarine Walrus, an amphibian airplane that could land on both sea and land. Several Flights of these airplanes were set up around the coast of Britain, concentrated mainly around the south and southeast of England. The Air Sea Rescue airmen did a magnificent job from 1941-45, rescuing hundreds of downed RAF and USAAF aircrew. It took a special type of airman to undertake these rescues and another kind of courage.As the war in North Africa developed, Walrus aircraft were needed in the Mediterranean, and later on either side of the Italian coast. Walrus squadrons operated just as successfully in this theater as around Britain. Aircrew operating over any stretch of water could always count on the ASR boys coming to their aid. This is their story.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateNov 30, 2016
    ISBN9781473861329
    The RAF Air-Sea Rescue Service in the Second World War
    Author

    Norman Franks

    Norman Franks is a respected historian and author. Previous titles for Pen and Sword include InThe Footsteps of the Red Baron (co-authored with Mike OConnor), The Fighting Cocks, RAF Fighter Pilots Over Burma, Dogfight, The Fallen Few of the Battle of Britain (with Nigel McCrery) and Dowdings Eagles. Over the course of his career, Frank has published some of the most compelling works on First World War fighter aviation, being one of the worlds leading authorities on the subject. He lives in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex.

    Read more from Norman Franks

    Related to The RAF Air-Sea Rescue Service in the Second World War

    Titles in the series (100)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Wars & Military For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Glorious ‘Stringbag’

      Jan 1, 2019

      The Glorious ‘Stringbag’
      9 min read

    • Article

      Raf Night Fighters

      Nov 26, 2020

      Raf Night Fighters
      8 min read

    • Article

      Making Battle Of Britain

      Jul 2, 2019

      Making Battle Of Britain
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Last Spitfire

      Jan 24, 2023

      The Last Spitfire
      3 min read

    • Article

      Luftwaffe’s Fighter General

      Sep 4, 2018

      Luftwaffe’s Fighter General
      11 min read

    • Article

      Macchi 202 Vs. P-38l

      Jun 16, 2020

      Macchi 202 Vs. P-38l
      10 min read

    • Article

      Malta’s Spitfire Ace

      Dec 27, 2019

      Malta’s Spitfire Ace
      15 min read

    • Article

      Land Down Under

      Aug 4, 2020

      Land Down Under
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Indestructible Ace

      Mar 5, 2019

      The Indestructible Ace
      10 min read

    • Article

      Savoia-marchetti Sm.79

      Jul 11, 2019

      Savoia-marchetti Sm.79
      3 min read

    • Article

      Ditched Dauntless

      Apr 13, 2021

      Ditched Dauntless
      4 min read

    • Article

      Dive-bombing Mustangs

      Feb 1, 2022

      Dive-bombing Mustangs
      9 min read

    • Article

      Second Best

      Jan 24, 2023

      Second Best
      11 min read

    • Article

      Thunder In The Cinema

      Jul 2, 2019

      Thunder In The Cinema
      10 min read

    • Article

      The F-5 An American Tiger

      Oct 20, 2020

      The F-5 An American Tiger
      7 min read

    • Article

      Earning My Gold Wings

      Apr 13, 2021

      Earning My Gold Wings
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Perfect Trap

      Jan 7, 2020

      The Perfect Trap
      10 min read

    • Article

      Grave Matters

      Jan 24, 2023

      Grave Matters
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Flying Tigers

      Feb 26, 2020

      The Flying Tigers
      13 min read

    • Article

      United Kingdom

      Apr 18, 2019

      United Kingdom
      6 min read

    • Article

      Hardware Albatros D.III

      Dec 24, 2019

      Hardware Albatros D.III
      1 min read

    • Article

      Flying The “George”

      Jun 16, 2020

      Flying The “George”
      4 min read

    • Article

      Flying The Hellcat

      Apr 5, 2022

      Flying The Hellcat
      3 min read

    • Article

      Chocks Away!

      Sep 10, 2021

      Chocks Away!
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The RAF Air-Sea Rescue Service in the Second World War

    4/5

    2 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      The compiler of this book is a prolific author, who has written mainly on aspects of Coastal Command during the Second World War. The title of the book is a little misleading, as the photographs contained within focus on the Walrus aircraft, and the squadrons and men who flew these ungainly amphibians, and does not cover the wider R.A.F. Air-Sea Rescue organisation during the war. Having said that, it does not invalidate the purchase of this book, as the photographs and accompanying text is very informative and interesting.The book comprises photographs that I have not seen before in print. They convey a good coverage of the role of the Walrus, and the operations it undertook rescuing airmen from the sea throughout the six years of the war. There are seven chapters, each commence with a precis of the operations of the period being covered. The chapters cover the war chronologically, and include the Mediterranean and Italian theatres.In conclusion, I found this book very interesting and informative. The text is written well, and includes personal aspects as well as significant operations. It has been added to my collection with pleasure, and I recommend it to anyone interested in this neglected area of Coastal Command during the Second World War.

    Book preview

    The RAF Air-Sea Rescue Service in the Second World War - Norman Franks

    Beyond

    Chapter One

    The Beginning

    Few countries are ever prepared for war. Much thought may have been given to its possibility, some far-sighted people may have even started tentative planning, but most plans are so basic as to be almost useless.

    Traditionally Britain has never been ready, and once the inevitable happens it takes time to plan, produce, formulate and make effective whatever is deemed necessary to counter enemy aggression. In 1939 therefore, Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) had no bomber aircraft with which to attack Germany effectively, and any that might reach German targets had no effective method of finding it or of bombing it with any accuracy. The RAF’s Coastal Command had no real way of locating German U-boats, and if by chance one was found, either on the surface or just under it, had no effective ordnance to sink it. Fighter Command was receiving new monoplane fighters, but still few in number, and it was only due to the foresight of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, Fighter Command’s Air Officer Commanding, that the new range and direction-finding (RDF or radar) equipment was developed and brought into use.

    The basic thinking was that if Britain had to bomb Germany, it could do so as it had done in the First World War, from French airfields, and that any German bombers that attacked Britain would have to fly unescorted across the North Sea and fall prey to the RAF’s newly-equipped Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons. This consideration did not affect Coastal Command, which hoped to contain Germany’s seaborne aggression by bottling up its navy and preventing its exit from the Baltic, the enemy’s only access to the sea, and patrolling the comparative confines of the North Sea. The fall of France in June 1940 threw all that thinking into the wastebasket.

    Way down the list of priorities was any thought of what might happen if airmen should be forced down into the sea, either the North Sea or English Channel. Bomber and Coastal Command aircraft carried rubber dinghies should this happen; presumably it was thought that fighter pilots would have no business being over water, but just in case they were provided with life preservers – the famous yellow Mae West life vests. Even so, no real thought had been given to how to rescue any of these airmen, other than relying on the Royal National Lifeboat Institution or Royal Navy motor launches dotted around the ports of the UK’s south and east coastlines.

    In any event this would be a very hit-and-miss affair. A large aircraft coming down at night in the North Sea would go largely unnoticed unless the radio operator had managed to broadcast an SOS signal and the aircraft’s rough position. Bomber crews carried a homing pigeon for belt-and-braces, with the assumption that a man in a sinking aeroplane is able to extract himself from the aircraft and collect the pigeon box! Even if a fighter pilot was unlucky enough to be over water when, say, his engine failed, other than a Mayday call (if he had time and was high enough for his call to be picked up), it would be pure luck if he was near enough to the coast for someone to spot his plight and call the police. It is not always appreciated that fighter pilots only began to carry dinghies as a matter of routine from June 1941. By then any number of pilots had been shot down into the Channel and lost, and Fighter Command had been operating over Northern France on the other side of the Channel since January of that year.

    What few people at the top seemed to have acknowledged was that the sea is cold – really cold. Forget ideas of the summer seaside, where families splash about happily in the sunshine; think of conditions in January, in the wind, rain and heavy seas. A man does not last long in such circumstances and a Mae West lifejacket only supports his head and shoulders out of the water, prolonging a painful and lonely death.

    The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) had been responsible for rescue at sea throughout most of the First World War, but within days of the amalgamation of the RNAS and the Royal Flying Corps into the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, the Marine Craft Section (MCS) had been formed as part of the new organization. While never a large group, it was drastically reduced with the coming of peace, and in any event, most of these craft were used for a whole myriad of duties and not kept purely for chance rescues. However, there was a standing requirement for a boat to be available whenever aircraft were flying over the sea. It was not until the 1930s that High Speed Launches (HSLs), specially designed for rescue duties, were developed and added to the MCS fleet. With the outbreak of the Second World War, it was mostly the HSL units of the MCS that scooped up the majority of downed airmen around the coasts of Britain.

    However, as fast as these launches might be, and provided it was known where a downed airman was, it still took time to reach him – time the airman or airmen did not have. Speed was of the essence. It soon became apparent that aircraft would be faster at searching than boats and could cover more of the ocean, so the RAF started to form small Air/Sea Rescue (ASR) Flights during 1941 and had these dotted around the coasts. These Flights fielded a small number of aeroplanes at various locations to enable coverage of the south-west, south, south-east and east coasts. In the south-east sector for example, ASR aircraft were located at Shoreham, Hawkinge and Martlesham Heath among other airfields, while the North Sea was covered by airfields including Matlaske, Coltishall and Bradwell Bay.

    At this stage these Flights were able to locate downed airmen, but had no way of helping them from the sea. They could drop a dinghy, which hopefully the airman was able to reach, but he may be wounded or already too cold to function. They could drop drinking water while the crew called up a rescue boat, but it would have to splash down very close by. In order to keep the man in sight they would drop a smoke float, as it was very easy to lose sight of a small object in the sea, which may only be a head and a portion of Mae West, and a clear sunny day could never be guaranteed. Rescue boats were generally alerted to operations being conducted over France, so a few might be located out in the Channel to be on hand in case of emergency, but again, there was no certainty of this.

    The first RAF aircraft used in the air-sea rescue role was the Westland Lysander, formerly employed for Army co-operation duties in support of land armies, but once France had fallen the aircraft had limited use. Being a comparatively slow high-winged aeroplane, it was ideal for searching expanses of water, its two-man crew being able to scour the wavetops at fairly low level. It was, however, vulnerable to attack and, while such instances were few, there was never any guarantee that some trigger-happy Luftwaffe fighter pilot might not ‘have a go’. After all, the Germans used the Heinkel He 59 twin-engined floatplane as a rescue aircraft, and the RAF had orders to attack them if sighted. In addition, the equally redundant Boulton Paul Defiant single-engined monoplane began to be used (those that were not being employed as nightfighters). While the Lysander carried two 0·303in forward-firing guns and two more in the rear cockpit, the Defiant had four 0·303in Browning machine-guns in a power-operated turret but no forward-firing armament at all. A later addition to the ASR role was the Hawker Hurricane fighter, which provided an increase in the area of search as well as protection over the area in which Lysanders may also be operating.

    However diligent the Lysander or Defiant crews, there was still a number of cases in which an HSL arrived to discover the pilot or crew member had succumbed to the cold, and all they could do was bring the body home. It did not take a genius to work out that if the aircraft that found the downed airman could also land and get him out of the water, this would be a major step in saving the man’s life. There was a solution at hand. It was called the Supermarine Walrus amphibian.

    Several companies built High Speed Launches. This example, HSL 2564, was 73ft (22·25m) long and built by Vosper Ltd of Portsmouth. These boats could carry a crew of up to ten RAF personnel and were armed with Lewis guns in case of air attack. In the early months of the war these boats were the main method of rescuing airmen from the sea.

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1