This page provides a summary of the Airborne Lifeboat. We encourage anyone interested in this story to read the excellent references on which this site is based. A good place to start is with Uffa’s ‘Joys of Life’ and ‘Rescue from the Skies’ by Stephen Brewster Daniels. And why not visit one of the museums.
The Players
Why an Airborne Lifeboat?
Getting the idea off the ground
Finalising the Design
Into Service
Proliferation
Lifeboats to vehicle for Social Service
The Players
Uffa Fox, through his books, tells the tale of the Airborne Lifeboat with great panache. Uffa was rightly proud of his very great contribution to saving the lives of so many airmen. He dedicated a large proportion of his time and energy in the latter half of the Second World War to making the lifeboats a reality. Uffa was responsible for the four designs which were put into production in the UK during the war and built more than any other boatyard. He also drew many other designs and helped the US Air Force to develop their own.
Uffa’s ingenuity, design skills, enthusiasm, energy, dogged perseverance and willingness to build on others’ ideas were key factors in producing the lifeboats. Others were involved too. Group Captain Waring (Commander RAF Lindholme and later Deputy Director Air Sea Rescue) and Lieutenant Arthur Robb of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve were certainly both part of the story. And many suppliers, contractors and boat builders also had input to the design with responsibility for the parachutes, firing mechanisms, buoyancy, and other equipment.
Arthur Robb (on the left in this photograph in New Zealand after the war) was a New Zealander, a boat builder and designer by trade.
Foreword to ‘Rescue From The Skies‘ by Prince Philip
“….. the Airborne Lifeboat. It sounds simple enough, but it was a novel idea at the time and it was just the sort of challenge to stimulate the genius of that brilliant yacht designer and helmsman, Uffa Fox. Many other people contributed to the development of the project, including those who built the boats and those who flew the Search and Rescue aircraft, but there can be little doubt that Uffa Fox’s persistence, enthusiasm, experience and unorthodox methods were crucial to the final success of this life-saving device.”
Uffa Fox, writing in ‘Joys of Life‘ about leveraging other’s ideas in his designs
“…. The problem was how to stay in the lead, for continuous new ideas are difficult. So, every time a man ordered a new vessel, I asked him to write down all his ideas, and number them from one to fifty so that we could deal with each one separately.
In this way many first-class brains were working, for all men, once they have mastered the art of sailing, think of different ideas. A great many of these had no value as they had already been tried and proved valueless all unknown to the proposer, but almost every owner produced one or more ideas that were good …… ” [From the opening page of Chapter X]
Why an Airborne Lifeboat?
UK Air Sea Rescue services developed quickly as the RAF grew in the 1930s and 1940s. The outbreak of war in 1939 meant the RAF was flying frequent missions over Europe. As the numbers grew so too did the number of aircrew who had to ditch in the sea, often as they returned home over the North Sea having taken damage. Initially, these crew relied on inflatable dinghies from their ditched aircraft, rescue launches or fishing boats, seaplanes (Walrus, Catalina, Sunderland) and increasingly inventive solutions for other aircraft to drop survival equipment – eg. Thornaby Bag, Bircham Barrel and Lindholme Gear.
None of these were ideal, particularly when aircrew ditched near enemy shores or in minefields, or in bad weather. In 1940 it is estimated that only 20% of ditched crews were rescued. Air Sea Rescue sought to rapidly increase their numbers of High Speed Launches but delivery was very slow due to the competition with boatbuilding for the Navy.
The idea is born
1941, two years into the war, saw the idea of an Airborne lifeboat put forward. Across the RAF people were applying a great deal of thought to giving ditched crew a greater chance of rescue. In Cowes, Uffa was personally involved in the war and thinking about the same idea. Was there a way to enable aircrew to sail home rather than passively wait to be rescued?
Uffa already had government and military contacts. He was personally engaged in The Home Guard (he called his unit the ‘Uffashots’) and his boatyard relied on government contracts including building pontoons, folding canvas and plywood boats, paddles and other equipment for the services. The workforce included apprentices one of whom, Bobbie Sach, was to become Uffa’s stepson when Uffa married for the second time in early 1941. Bobbie joined the Air Sea Rescue services to combine service with his love of boats. Through this relationship, Uffa became acutely aware of the challenge for ditched aircrew, first talking with Bobbie about how a boat could be got to ditched aircrew and then personally when Bobbie’s rescue craft was destroyed and Bobbie captured in early 1941. As a result, Uffa applied himself to the problem, envisaging a boat that could be flown to ditched aircrew enabling them to actively sail out of danger. It is his trademark energy, enthusiasm, design skills and reputation which were key factors in driving the idea forward. Uffa came up with many ideas, some of which he trialled with models launched from the upper stories of his home. He worked tirelessly to get them accepted and was undeterred by criticisms, re-working his ideas as requirements were clarified. He writes about this in Joys of Life and More Joys of Living.
In 1940 Group Captain Waring, Commander RAF Lindholme, was actively engaged in the same problem. He had already been responsible for introducing the ‘Lindholme Gear’ to assist ditched crews. In late 1941, with help from Lieutenant Arthur Robb RNVR, he developed ideas for a dinghy with a motor, sails and emergency equipment that could be carried by aircraft to ditched aircrew and raised the idea with the Air Ministry for consideration.
Getting the Idea Off The Ground
Accounts vary across the references as to how all of these ideas and these men came together but thankfully they did and the idea of an Airborne Lifeboat began to fly!
Group Captain Waring submitted his proposal to the Air Ministry at the end of 1941 but it failed to attract immediate focus. Uffa describes in his book how he took a different approach (typical for him), eschewing protocols and breaking through procedures to take the idea personally to Lord Brabazon, Minister of Aircraft Production, a pilot and sailor who Uffa had known for many years.
Between them, the two men persuaded the Air Ministry to raise the priority of the idea and work could begin on making it a reality. Eventually, it was agreed to use the Hudson bomber as the carrier and an aircraft was made available to Uffa and his team for detailed design to continue. Progress became easier when later in 1942 Group Captain Waring became Deputy Director Air Sea Rescue.
Finalising the Design
The challenge was to clarify and meet the many different requirements of the idea – as a lifeboat, as part of the aircraft during flight, with the ability to withstand the drop into the sea and capable of sailing and motoring at speed crewed by tired and possible injured aircrew with little sailing experience.
Uffa’s first trial, with a 20′ design, proved the concept and permission given to develop the lifeboat. Uffa and his team drew a 23′ lifeboat and set about making it a reality. There were many issues and delays which must have frustrated Uffa and certainly did Group Captain Waring:
- materials and equipment supply delays
- lengthy decision processes
- trials
- agreement to design parameters
- boat structural design
- technical issues with slings, parachutes, rockets, motors,…
- navigating the approvals processes within the Air Ministry, MOD and Government during a major war
The lifeboat was competing with the whole war effort for attention, funds and materials. Uffa’s drive was relentless however and after building and testing a prototype eventually the design was finalised as the Mark I Airborne Lifeboat. Uffa writes, in colourful language, about this period in ‘Joys of Life’ and ‘More Joys of Living’.
The delays were so great that by the time building of the Mark I, for the Hudson, had started the decision had already been taken to move to the Warwick. The top edge of the Mark I was adjusted to fit the Warwick and became the Mark 1A lifeboat. As it turned out the release of Warwicks was itself delayed and the Hudson was used alongside the Warwick until the end of the war.
The task of building the many lifeboats required was distributed to boatyards around the UK, including Uffa’s own yard in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Uffa’s yard actually built more than any other yard.
Into Service
In early 1943 the lifeboat was still being subjected to trials but by Spring it was finally suppled to Squadron 279 for operations with Hudson aircraft. They spent some time becoming familiar with the lifeboat and its use and training aircrew on how to use it. The first operational drop was made in May 1943, to the aircrew of a ditched Halifax. A Hudson dropped its lifeboat. The drop did not go completely smoothly with several equipment failures including the rocket deployed drogue and rescue lines. However, it landed close to the ditched crew and they were able to get on board and get underway. They were eventually picked by High Speed Launch and taken to Great Yarmouth. The operation is written up (as are many) in ‘Rescue from the Skies’.
18 months after the idea was first put forward within the RAF the Airborne Lifeboat had come of age.
Proliferation
Although the decision to replace the Hudson with Warwick aircraft was taken in 1942 the transition was delayed. The Airborne Lifeboat service initially relied on the Hudson and nearly eighty Mark I lifeboats were built. The Hudson and Mark I lifeboat then served alongside the Warwicks and the four hundred or so Mark IA lifeboats as the mainstay of the Airborne Lifeboat capability. (The Mark IA was the same design as the Mark I with a top edge modified for the different fuselage shape).
The Warwick was considerably larger than the Hudson which had constrained the Mark I design. The RAF sought tenders from many suppliers including Uffa Fox for a larger lifeboat. Uffa was engaged to finalise the Mark II design and integrated many ideas from the other tenders into the production lifeboat. Nearly one hundred and fifty Mark II were built for the Warwick aircraft. Lancasters became available later in the war and the Mark II was modified to fit and called the Mark IIA. Just under one hundred Mark IIA were built.
Towards the end of the war the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm identified a need for an airborne lifeboat that could be carried by the Buccaneer aircraft. This was a single-engined plane, much smaller than the Hudson. Uffa designed the RN-1, nearly 18 feet long, capable of carrying ten with the required equipment and supplies. Although twenty-four were built there are no records of operational use.
Uffa also assisted the USA Air Force develop their own airborne lifeboat by sharing the Mark I design with them. He went on to draw many other airborne lifeboat designs of different sizes most of which were not taken forward.
Although not designed by Uffa Fox the Mark III lifeboat, for the Shackleton aircraft, deserves a mention. Designed and built by Saunders Roe after the war it was the largest of designs for the RAF. Built in aluminium it was intended for service in the hot climates of the Mediterranean and Pacific where the wooden Mark I and 2 designs had suffered. It was not used operationally.
Demise – Lifeboat to Social Service
After D-Day demand for airborne lifeboats began to decline. For instance there were airfields in Europe where aircraft in trouble could land. Many lifeboats were lost in service. Lifeboat numbers began to reduce. Many had been abandoned or destroyed by accompanying aircraft once rescue launches had picked up the crew. And some lifeboats were cannabilised for spare parts to keep others going or provide items for other use. However at the end of the war a significant number remained. Air Sea Rescue retained Airborne Lifeboat capability for a small number of years after the war. There were far fewer Air Sea Rescue demands and by then Helicopters were on the scene. Through the 1950s Helicopters rapidly proved more efficient and effective for Air Sea Rescue and the airborne lifeboat was no longer needed.
In less than ten years after the war, the remaining lifeboats were removed from service. Many were converted to pleasure yachts and taken by the RAF Sailing Association around the UK and Europe. Some were sold to the public who converted them for pleasure use. They made fast and capable yachts once converted.