Page 23 - John George Blair

The first air-dropped lifeboat was British, a 32-foot (10 m) wooden canoe-shaped boat designed in
1943 by Uffa Fox to be dropped by Royal Air Force aircraft for the rescue of aircrew downed in the
Channel. The lifeboat was dropped from a height of 700 feet (210 m), and its descent to the water
was slowed by six parachutes. It was balanced so that it would right itself if it overturned, all
subsequent airborne lifeboats were given this feature. When it hit the water the parachutes were
jettisoned and rockets launched 300 feet. (90 m) lifelines. Coamings were inflated on the descent
to give it self-righting.

Fox's airborne lifeboat weighed 1,700 pounds (770 kg) and included two 4 horsepower (3 kW)
motor, sufficient to make about 6 knots, augmented by a mast and sail along with an instruction
book to teach aircrew the rudiments of sailing. The lifeboats were first carried by Lockheed
Hudson aircraft in February 1943 and later, Vickers Warwick bombers carried the Mark II lifeboat.
The Fox boats successfully saved downed aircrew as well as glider infantrymen dropped in the
water during Operation Market-Garden. The lifeboats carried emergency equipment, a radio,
waterproof suits, rations and medical supplies