SALVATION FROM THE SKY

Sadly very few remain today, but airborne lifeboats were an important life-saving advancement in World War II, conceived by iconic dinghy designer a Fo

In the end the nations of northern Europe would come together to defeat the Barbary Pirate menace, and when an Anglo-Dutch fleet shelled Algiers thousands of slaves would finally be released. Image: Everett Collection/Shutterstock

The one remaining Type IIa airborne lifeboat, which is now undergoing restoration. Image Nina Plumbe

Just a few issues back, Dougal on Tour looked at the creation, the rise and then the final replacement of the high-speed Air Sea Rescue launches, an initiative that Aircraftsman Shaw, aka Lawrence of Arabia, was closely involved in.

As the 1930s ran into the early war years of the 1940s and the Battle of Britain, the pressing need was to save the desperately needed fighter pilots who had ‘ditched’ into the sea, but by late 1941 and into 1942, the RAF was moving forward with an offensive role, at times sending more than 1,000 bombers off in a single operation to attack the German war effort.

In the early days of the war, the bombers were small, with crews of just three or four, but when the big four engine heavy bombers arrived there would be a crew of seven on board. With the arrival of the American 8th Air Force, their B-17 and Liberator bombers carried crews of 10. Innovative Idea A new way of getting to downed crews, quickly, with something more substantial than a small rubber raft was urgently needed and the answer, when it came, would involve the thinking of one of the UK’s most iconic dinghy sailors and designers.

The war had touched the life of Uffa Fox when his stepson had to crash land in the Channel. It got the designer thinking that the best way of getting help to the airmen was if a boat could be dropped into the water close by. Fox’s original idea was for a collapsible, folding boat, connected to parachutes. The parachutes would be attached to the boat by wires in such a way that the pull would unfold the boat, so that it was ready for use by the time it hit the water.

Luckily for the wartime flyers, Uffa Fox was not just a clever designer. He was well connected with the ‘establishment’, which allowed him to present his ideas to Lord Brabazon, who was then the Minister for Aircraft Production. Fox’s idea got the green light and he was given access to a Hudson aircraft, which was stationed at Thorney Island, in Chichester Harbour.

Design development From his first viewing of the aircraft Fox would run headlong into a number of technical snags, most of which came about because of the complex reinforcements that braced the internal structure of the aircraft bomb bay. The clever idea for the folding boat would have to be scrapped, but the basic premise, that a lifeboat dropped from the sky would be a lifesaver, was simply too good to ignore.

Whilst still at Thorney, Fox and his team chalked out shapes on the ground to arrive at the idea of a 23ft hull, with a 5ft beam, that could be carried slung underneath the fuselage of the aircraft.

The design, however, would be far from easy, for the topsides of the hull would have to fit snuggly up against the skin of the aircraft, whilst the hull would need to be shaped in such a way that it would not create handling problems for the pilot when airborne.

The other problem that Fox had to solve was that the Hudson sat ‘tail down’ on a stern wheel, which reduced the gap between the ground and the aft sections of the aircraft. The result was what Fox called a ‘weak’ stern, a racy looking profile that would fit in the space allowed.

Fast for ard The innovative developments were coming thick and fast, with the boat being divided into a number of watertight compartments that carried sails, two inboard motors, fuel, food, first

The Mark 1 Airborne Lifeboat. Image: Uffa Fox

A Mark 1 positioned under a Hudson bomber. Image: Uffa Fox

aid equipment and a ‘how to’ guide that demonstrated the basics of sailing.

In just one week the prototype Airborne Lifeboat hull was built, but then came the tricky technical issues of how it could be deployed. Six parachutes would be needed to slow down the descent, with these set up so that the hull would hit the water with a bow down attitude, thus letting the finer, but stronger forward sections take the majority of the impact.

The design included rubber ‘turtle decks’ that would inflate once the hull was in the water, making the lifeboat self-righting. Then, once stable, mini rockets would fire lines out, like the spokes of a wheel, for some 300ft, so that the waiting airmen could haul themselves to safety.

Boat in action Eventually, all was set for the first full rehearsal, which involved Fox and four other observers waiting out in the Solent, although they had an Air Sea Rescue launch in attendance in case anything went wrong, which it nearly did.

After first dropping a smoke marker to establish the wind direction at sea level (as Fox had worked out that the lifeboat had to be dropped head to wind) the Hudson flew over a second time and released the lifeboat, which parachuted down exactly as Fox had planned.

Just how good the Trial was nearly had disastrous consequences, as the falling lifeboat, dropped from 700ft, missed the men in the raft by a mere 10 feet. As it was they were all soaked by the splash. Undaunted, they clambered aboard and started the engine to demonstrate the boat handling characteristics as they motored around the Solent at 7kt.

Just as Fox had first envisaged, the air dropped lifeboat would soon enter service and would be credited with saving many lives, with the success driving the development of the Mark II, a bigger and more capable version that carried supplies for a month and, with a 16hp Austin engine, could motor 500 miles.

Even with the end of the war and the arrival of the rescue helicopter, airborne lifeboats continued to be a part of the air-sea rescue effort into the 1950s, before their service finally came to an end.

Today, a number of the smaller, Mark I Airborne Lifeboats still exist, mainly as fascinating museum artefacts, but it is believed that just one example of the Mark II remains, albeit in a poor condition. Thankfully, a wonderful band of enthusiasts have now come together to not only save this amazing piece of history, but to fully restore it. That is another story that All at Sea will be reporting on in the future!