The Airborne Lifeboat
Words by Tom Hiett
First published in SHHAS Newsletter Spring 2011
In 1974 I was cycling along a quiet Avenue in Southampton when I saw the Mk IA Airborne Lifeboat. It was in a garden and almost overgrown with shrubs under an Apple tree. The large amount of Tumble-home (inwards sloping sides) was an identifying mark. I saw several of these craft on the river Hamble in the immediate post war years. They had been converted for sailing by the RAF and used by RAF personnel at Calshot, Plymouth and on the Bitter Lakes in Egypt.
Conversion involved taking out the deck and lockers, bow and stern buoyancy and gadgets. A large Tabernacle (mast fitting) was added. A huge mast was fitted and a new deck built on. The condition of ours was that the decking and woodwork was poor but the "Shell" was tested and found to be very sound, having laid in the open for thirty years.
With the owners permission I contacted Keith Fordyce at Torbay Museum and he said he would be glad to have the Lifeboat. A local Haulage Firm was engaged. Two husky chaps and Land Rover & Trailer arrived. The boat was loaded and arrived safely at Torbay on the 2nd August 1974. A few years ago I visited Brooklands Museum and saw the lifeboat on the premises.
Design of the airborne lifeboat was by the late great Uffa Fox, Yacht Designer and Builder of Cowes, Isle of Wight. In 1942 at Medina Works, West Cowes he made a small parachuted model which was tested by dropping from an upstairs window. Lord Brabazon of the Ministry of aircraft production gave the "go-ahead", and lines were "taken off' a Lockheed Hudson at RAF Thorney Island.
The first "replica" was offered up three weeks later to a Hudson at Cunliffe Owens works, Eastleigh near Southampton. Then it was back to the works to be prepared. Back at Eastleigh testing was now ready, Test Pilot "Bebs" agreed to test fly the ensemble, but only if Uffa went as an observer. Trials were flown and were very satisfactory. The last test was stalling at 10,000 feet (3,050M). This developed at 60 knots, recovery being hairy and prolonged. After this, parachutes were fitted to the "replica" which was dropped successfully over land at RAF Netheravon. Meantime, day and night shifts had produced the first real boat at Cowes.
The craft was 23 feet (7.01 m) long and very beamy, the aft end had to be shallow due to the Hudson being a tailwheel aircraft, and as a bonus making her faster in the water. Construction was "Double Diagonal" Canadian Rock Elm and Mahogany, with many small ribs, inboard was a centre board, a retractable rudder, two outboard engines fitted in boxes through the forward hull, one third of the length from the bow. Lots of locker space with petrol, clothing, medical supplies, pyrotechnics, a portable wireless set and a handbook printed on canvas. Also supplied were oars and a small mast with two simple sails. Attachment to the Hudson was by a bomb hook fitted on cables to a single release unit A C02 bottle and a battery operated the various gadgets.
Now to describe the operation. First the Pilot drops a smoke float to mark the position. On the second run into wind the lifeboat is released and three parachutes deploy. When a nose down of 30 degrees is reached the drogue or sea anchor is deployed. This keeps the boat's head in to wind for the final descent. On arrival in the water a switch operates the bow and stern buoyancy bags. Another switch operates and an explosive release gets rid of the parachutes, seconds later it operates rockets which carry floating lifelines in different directions for the survivors to catch. The airmen then climb aboard from their rubber dinghy to motor or sail to the nearest friendly shore. Yard trials were complete & a full scale trial was set for I2th September 1942, Uffa and four others were set adrift in the Solent in a rubber dinghy. The Hudson arrived from Cunliffe Owens, dropped a smoke float and next time round dropped the lifeboat, The three Parachutes opened and sea anchor deployed. The Boat landed a few feet from Uffas crew soaking them through, lifelines deployed and they climbed aboard, much happiness prevailed as they soon got underway. It is believed that all this took place only a few weeks from starting, a great achievement Indeed. Production was started immediately.
The first Squadron to be equipped was 279 Sqn. at Bircham Newton, under W/Cdr Brian Correy. The RAF officer overseeing introduction was Grp Capt E. F. Waring DFC, AFC. The first recorded rescue was in May 1943 (circumstances uncertain) however Bircham Newton recovered two complete Fortress crews (20 men) from off Heligoland in one day. Another Boat was dropped off Le Havre and its survivors were attacked on the way back across the Channel by an Me 109 and a surface vessel, they arrived safely off the Isle of Wight. Another was seen dropped 500 miles off Ushant by an MN Officer ( the owner of the Boat recovered)
The main beneficiaries were Fortress crews of the 8th Air Force returning to East Anglia. There were also units operating in the Middle East.
The later mark Il was slightly larger at 30 feet (9.14 m). The first was fitted to Warwick BV228 at Brooklands in October 1943 Subsequent flight testing was carried out satisfactorily by aircrew and civilians, all of whom by chance hailed from the Isle of Wight. The test drop is believed to have been at Puckaster Cove near Uffas's home on the Isle of Wight. The 30ft Mk Il (warwick) carried no less than six double suits, four plain suits, ten lifebelts, a very pistol and 81 cartridges, 100 tins of water, two kites, a radio, charts and two fishing kits, also a set of waterproof playing cards and an instruction book printed on waterproof canvas. The engine was an inboard Austin of 10 hp. range was said to be 500 miles.
A three man boat was built for the Royal Navy and said to have been for the Barracuda. There is a report of a Barracuda said to have flown a boat, Mk II MX613, during 1943, No further details known. However there is an illustration of three types of boat at Puckaster Cove, so it did exist.
40, 45 and 50 ft types were designed and a few built. A Lancaster type was built and could pack in 25 men. In the event, the A bomb finished the war, making further effort redundant. The design was taken over by the Americans who took over development and built a successful 27 footer for the B 17 Fortress.
During World War Two British ASR units saved 14,700 men. The airborne share was 150 lives known saved, so it was all worthwhile.
