page_title: Air-sea rescue
section_title: Britain
hierarchical_section_title: Air-sea rescue / History / Interwar development / Britain
caption_attribution_description: Royal Air Force High Speed Launch HSL 164 of No. 203 Air Sea Rescue Unit heads out from Colombo, Ceylon, into the Indian Ocean, guided by a Hawker Hurricane search aircraft of No. 222 Group RAF.
context_page_description: Air-sea rescue is the coordinated search and rescue of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people who have survived the loss of their seagoing vessel. ASR can involve a wide variety of resources including seaplanes, helicopters, submarines, rescue boats and ships. Specialized equipment and techniques have been developed. Military and civilian units can perform air-sea rescue.
  Air-sea rescue operations carried out during war have saved valuable trained and experienced airmen. Moreover, the knowledge that such operations are being carried out greatly enhanced the morale of the combat aircrew faced not only with the expected hostile reaction of the enemy but with the possible danger of aircraft malfunction during long overwater flights.
context_section_description: T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, joined the RAF in 1929, working at the flying boat station, Mount Batten in Plymouth Sound. He witnessed first-hand the deficiencies in the rescue system when a seaplane tender, despatched to save the survivors of an airplane crash in the Solent, arrived too late to save them before they drowned. He immediately began to press his commanding officer for the introduction of fast motorboat launches as rescue boats. Lawrence had experience using this type of vessel, having assisted with the 1929 Schneider Trophy race while at the helm of a Biscayne Baby, a fast boat when the temperamental engines were running.
  Meanwhile, Hubert Scott-Paine, the designer of the record breaking Miss Britain III and Miss England boats and founder of the British Power Boat Company (BPBC), made a similar offer of his expertise to the RAF and he soon began to collaborate with Lawrence in the development of 40 ft (12.2 m) long high-speed launches, purpose-built for sea rescue.
  The result, built by the BPBC, was the 200-Class Seaplane tender; powered by two 100 HP engines it had a top speed of over 36 knots. Testing on the launch continued from 1931-32 to ensure that the engines could run at sustained high speeds. The ship was an operational success and was followed up with the MkI and MkIA tenders, powered with Perkins Engines. These formed the mainstay of the Marine Section's rescue launches all the way through to the Second World War.
  Nine of these boats were ordered for use by the RAF Marine service by 1932. In 1935, larger 37 ft (11.3 m) boats were also ordered; these were fitted with wireless systems that allowed the launch to communicate with the Station and the search aircraft, allowing for an efficient system of contact to be maintained.
  The Type Two 63 ft HSL was designed in 1937 by Hubert Scott-Paine; 63 foot long and known as the Whaleback from the distinctive curve to its deck. This was the main high speed launch class ship used during the Second World War and was instrumental in the rescue of Allied aircrew from the sea after they were shot down.
  The failure of the Marine Craft Section during the Battle of Britain led to the creation of the Air Sea Rescue Services which with the motto 'the sea shall not have them', was created to coordinate at sea rescue with its own air sea rescue squadrons, Marine Branch and Royal Navy vessels, and Coastal Command flying boats.
caption: The Type Two 63 ft High-speed launch, designed by Hubert Scott-Paine in 1937.
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