page_title: Type Two 63 ft HSL
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Type Two 63 ft HSL / History
caption_attribution_description: Aerial photograph taken from a Lockheed Hudson of No. 279 Squadron RAF showing High Speed Launch HSL 130 from Yarmouth (UK), rescuing the crew of a Handley Page Halifax from their dinghy in the English Channel off the Isle of Wight. They had been forced to ditch after their aircraft incurred damage from anti-aircraft fire while raiding Essen, Germany.
context_page_description: The Type Two HSL was a 63 ft high-speed launch craft made by British Power Boat Company. The craft were used during the Second World War for air-sea rescue operations to save Allied aircrew from the sea. The Type Two superseded the 64 ft HSL, and was itself replaced by the Type Three 68 ft "Hants and Dorset" also built by the BPBC. The Type Two was nicknamed the "Whaleback" due to the distinctive curve to its deck and humped cabin.
context_section_description: The Type Two was designed in 1937 by George Selman, Chief Designer and Naval Architect of the British Power Boat Company, which was founded by Hubert Scott-Paine at Hythe. Scott-Paine had previously owned the Supermarine Aviation Company, later builders of the Supermarine Spitfire and several flying boat types.
  A low-set cabin contained the wheel-house, chart room and a sickbay. For defence against enemy aircraft, on top of the cabin were two aircraft-style turrets made by Armstrong-Whitworth initially with a single .303 in Vickers K gun or Lewis gun (this was later improved – see Variants below). The mahogany hull was of the hard chine, planing type.
caption: HSL 130 picking up an RAF Halifax crew off the Isle of Wight, 1942
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