Location: Online
Airborne lifeboat displayed: many, photos only
Link: https://www.iwm.org.uk
The Imperial War Museum have an online archive which includes photographs and videos covering Airborne Lifeboats. These are indexed here under the IWM non-commercial licence. The thumbnails below link through the IWM website.
The photographs are grouped into the following sections (click on a heading to jump to that section):
- The new Mark I and Ia Airborne Lifeboat
- Air Sea Rescue in The Azores – Warwick aircraft and Mark II Lifeboats
- Royal Navy Airborne Lifeboat RN1 fitted to Barracuda Aircraft
- US Flying Fortress Lifeboats in the UK and elsewhere
The IWM pages linked to the thumbnails included details of who took the photographs and other information about them.
Airborne Lifeboat Mark I and IA
The first operational Airborne Lifeboats were the Mark I, fitted to Hudson aircraft, and Mark IA, fitted to the Warwick. This type of craft was air-dropped by means of parachute to airmen too far out at sea, or too near to enemy coasts for immediate rescue by air/sea rescue launches. Buoyancy chambers at each end of the boat ensured that it would right itself no matter how it hit the water. The boat was powered by two engines and was equipped with medical supplies, rations, clothing, navigational aids, sails and oars. It was introduced in May 1943 and led to the saving of many valuable lives.
A model of a Mark I or Ia lifeboat. This is a well detailed full-hull model of a MkI (or MkIA), that can be fulled rigged, and has the fore and aft buoyancy present as though inflated.
© IWM (MOD 122)
The Airborne lifeboat was dropped by parachute. The boats had two motors beside rocket life-lines which operate when the lifeboat alights on the sea.
1944 – The parachutes fitted to the lifeboat deploy directly it leaves the Warwick.
© IWM (CH 13915)
VICKERS WARWICK – ASR Mark I, HF944 K, of No. 282 Squadron RAF based at St Eval, Cornwall carrying the short Mark IA Lifeboat.
© IWM (MH 5337)
RAF COASTAL COMMAND, 1939-1945. A Lockheed Hudson Mark III in flight, carrying a lifeboat.
© IWM (C 3689A)
Original wartime caption: “The Boat on the Float” is becoming a familiar sight on the airfields of Bomber Command. This strange craft is the airborne lifeboat, the latest appliance for rescuting airmen forced to ditch in the sea. Mounted on a lorry, it is being taken on a tour of Bomber Squadron, so that the men who have to use it may be familiar with it and know how to handle it. An Air/Sea Rescue expert demonstrates how to rig the sails and handle the small motor. The lifeboat is flown to the spot where the airmen are adrift. It is attached to the belly of the aircraft like a bomb, and when it is released parachutes open and lower it gently to the water. Picture (issued 1944) shows – Here are aircrews examining the craft.
ROYAL AIR FORCE COASTAL COMMAND, 1939-1945. An airborne lifeboat is parachuted by a Lockheed Hudson of No. 279 Squadron RAF to the crew of a USAAF Boeing B-17 who had difficulty in getting into their dinghy after making a forced landing in the North Sea. 279 Squadron were based at Bircham Newton, Norfolk, at this time.
ASR in the Azores Warwick aircraft and Mark II Lifeboat
ROYAL AIR FORCE COASTAL COMMAND: NO. 247 GROUP OPERATIONS IN THE AZORES, 1943-1945. No.269 Squadron based at Lagens
Groundcrew wheel a Mark II Lifeboat to its parent aircraft, Vickers Warwick ASR Mark I, BV508 ‘HK-B’, at Lagens. This view shows the amount of life-saving equipment packed into the boat.
© IWM (CA 126)
Groundcrew wheel a Mark II Lifeboat to its parent aircraft, Vickers Warwick ASR Mark I, BV508 ‘HK-B’, at Lagens.
© IWM (CA 125)
Vickers Warwick ASR Mark I, BV356 HK-E in flight over Terceira. BV356 was a redesignated Stage C aircraft, seen here carrying a Mark II lifeboat.
© IWM (CA 129)
Final adjustments to a Mark II Lifeboat, loaded to its parent aircraft, Vickers Warwick ASR Mark I, BV508 ‘HK-B’, at Lagens.
© IWM (CA 127)
VICKERS Warwick ASR Mark I, BV356 HK-E in flight along the coast of Terceira. BV356 was a redesignated Stage C aircraft, seen here carrying a Mark II lifeboat.
© IWM (CA 130)
Royal Navy Airborne Lifeboat RN1
LIFEBOAT DROPPED FROM AIR. 13 JULY 1945, LEE-ON-SOLENT. THE DEMONSTRATION DROP OF THE NAVY’S AIRBORNE LIFEBOAT, 17 FT, 9 INS LONG, WHEN IT WAS DROPPED BY PARACHUTE TO AN AIR CREW WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE FORCED LANDED INTO THE SEA. THE LIFEBOAT, SELF-RIGHTING, AND SELF-BALING IS EQUIPPED WITH SAILS AND AN OUTBOARD ENGINE WHICH GIVES IT A RANGE OF 120 MILES AT 4 KNOTS.
THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. A Fairey Barracuda Mk III carrying the lifeboat before the demonstration drop of the navy’s airborne lifeboat off Lee-on-Solent. The lifeboat, which is 17 ft, 9 ins long, was dropped by parachute to an air crew who were supposed to have forced landed into the sea. The lifeboat, self-righting, and self-baling is equipped with sails and an outboard engine which gives it a range of 120 miles at 4 knots. It contains special water purifying units, first aid outfits, rations and cigarettes.
US Flying Fortress Lifeboats in the UK and elsewhere
UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCES (USAAF) IN BRITAIN, 1942-1945. An SB-17 Flying Fortress (serial number 44-83802) nicknamed “Pacific Tramp” used for air sea rescue duties. The aircraft is fitted with a twin-engine lifeboat.
© IWM (FRE 14393)
UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCES (USAAF) IN BRITAIN, 1942-1945. A Dumbo B-17 Flying Fortress of the 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron with a lifeboat attached to the bomb bay.
© IWM (FRE 14474)
UNITED STATES EIGHTH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1942-1945. A Dumbo SB-17 Flying Fortress of the 457th Bomb Group used for air-sea resucue operations. A lifeboat has been fitted beneath the aircraft’s nose.
© IWM (FRE 1896)
UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCES (USAAF) IN BRITAIN, 1942-1945. A sea-rescue B-17G Flying Fortress (serial number 44-83773) carrying a large life-boat to drop to survivors of air-to-sea crashes flying over Hawaii. Handwritten on slide casing: ‘SB-17G. 44-83773 over Hawaii.’
© IWM (FRE 12740)