5th May 1943 – Three Hudsons from 279 Squadron attended the ditched crew of a Halifax (102 Squadron) returning from a raid on Germany. Their position was 85 miles East of Spurn Head. One of the Hudsons, ‘W’, was carrying an Airborne Lifeboat which was dropped to the crew.
This first operational drop did not go smoothly with a failure in the parachute deployment which caused the lifeboat to swing on its way down. The rocket which fired the bow drogue didn’t fire, the bow and stern buoyancy canopies failed to inflate properly and the side rockets did not fire to deploy the floating line on each side.
However, the lifeboat landed safely quite close to the ditched crew and their dinghy. They were able to get into the lifeboat and were soon underway on a course signalled by one of the Hudsons. One of the engine’s sheer-pins broke and the crew rigged the sail, continuing under sail and one engine.
The Hudsons lost sight of the lifeboat in fog but a little later searching planes sighted her again and High Speed Launches were dispatched. They had never seen an Airborne Lifeboat before. They recovered the crew and towed the lifeboat. Finding it unstable under tow they eventually moored it to a navigation buoy and the Navy recovered it the next day.
The second successful drop
This was made in far more demanding circumstances, providing further proof of the effectiveness of the concept. This incident had involved the crew of a Wellington flying their last trip, a leaflet-dropping sortie, at an Operational Training Unit. They were obliged to ditch, close to the French coast just north of the Seine estuary, where they were located at dawn by a Hudson, accompanied by Spitfires. The Hudson dropped its lifeboat which the crew duly boarded. They managed to start the engine and get under way, top cover being provided by Typhoons until they were met by a High Speed Launch, with its own fighter escort, which took them aboard.