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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1054.PDF
542 FLIGHT (I) The " exposure suit " designed by Sqn. Ldr. E. A. Paske, of the R.A.F.Institute of Aviation Medicine, which packs inside the collar of a " Mae West '' and is inflated via a mouthpiece after beingdjmacd^-^It is madeof very light airproof material and includes hoetSand hSoa altvsjhown. The " breath blanket '' keepsout the cold. Illustrated by "Flight" photographs. Operation Endurance Volunteer R.A.F. Crew Tests Airborne Lifeboat Mkll and Its Rescue Equipment : New "Exposure Suit" Proves Its Worth in Channel Storm WAR being more concerned with the taking of life thanwith its preservation, it was perhaps only to be ex-pected that the recently ended struggle should have been well under way before the Air/Sea Rescue Service wasformed as a separate organization under Coastal Command, R.A.F. Even then, the urgent needs of the more aggressivebranches of the Services meant that Air/Sea Rescue could not immediately enjoy a very high priority either in its supplyof equipment or the necessary "brain hours" to develop it. Thus it was that the war was approaching its closing stagesbefore the airborne lifeboat made its appearance in its pre- sent form, and before the Service was able to acquire fromthe Navy its first long-range rescue craft in the form of con- verted uoft D-type boats. The airborne lifeboat, as carried beneath a Warwick anddropped on a cluster of six parachutes to a ditched aircrew in a rubber dinghy, was first described in Flight, January i8th,1945, but briefly to refresh the reader's memory, it is a 25ft. boat with a plywood hull and is provided both with sails andengine (the Mark I had two small two-stroke engines of the outboard type, but the Mark II is powered by an 8 h.p.Austin marine inboard engine). On reaching the water the parachutes are automatically released and lifelines are firedto port and starboard by rockets operated by immersion switches. A drogue or sea anchor is similarly liberated. Theboat is very comprehensively equipped with rations, cigar- ettes, first-aid kit, signalling and navigating gear, and amanually operated transmitter which sends out the SOS on the international wavelength. To a bomber crew ditched, for example, well out in theNorth Sea. the arrival of such a lifeboat was a far grander
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