Air Sea Rescue Launch

[Lincoln 7]

I have a friend who lives and works on the Solent, Plymouth.
He states there is, up the Hamble, an ASR Launch, that is in a good state of repair.
The number, he has stated is .....101...Thats all he can tell me, anyone live down there can shed any light as to whether there is indeed, this vessel moored up there, and if so, any idea as to it's history.
Not being of any interest to him, he has not delved any further into the vessel, anyone any ideas please?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

[Dr Strangelove]

Portsmouth, not Plymouth I should think

[Lincoln 7]

Well, Dr Strangelove, I can only go one what he told me, he lives and works ferrying large boats for those who berth in the Solent so you could be right I dropped a clanger, he lives in Southampton.NOT Plymouth.
Thanks for putting the grey matter in place
Jim.
Lincoln .7

[Newforest]

Hopefully your friend has the wrong number and it should be 102. This should now be in Portsmouth round the corner from Hamble.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/heritage/...t_in_history_/

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4997...rom_scrapheap/

[Lincoln 7]

Hi Newforest.Many thanks for putting the "News" you had obtained, on here. I think she is a marvelous piece of history, and when I read the first newspaper article felt, gutted!!
I then read the 2nd one, and felt elated, that the old girl had been saved. I have only been one one of those boats, and she had 3 Thornycroft engines, and boy, could she move.

Its right what Moggy said on another Post of mine, re Lightship 72, again, yet another vessel again "D" day landings, Normandy, a great piece of History,BUT, where is she?. no one knows!! but as he stated, everyone wants to save the "Last 15 or so.....aircraft" but when it comes to ships or boats, no one wants to know. FFS we are a Nation of Sea Farers, we should go all out, and save these ships and little boats, that saved us, many times, in many cases.We waste enough of OUR taxes on shed loads of things we DON'T need.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

[Moggy C]

The exciting part appears to be that they will be selling rides. Now that is an experience to equal Just Jane. I'll be in the queue.

Moggy

[Lincoln 7]

I just hope it's a LONG queue Moggs, just goes to show, we Brits CAN do things, providinng the motivation is there.

Jim.
Lincoln .7

[spitfireman]

Blimey....blast from the past.

I was once picked up by one of its sisters D92 after a night wet winching sortie with a Sea King went badly wrong. (winter 1980) Even remember the bloke who dragged me out the sea ('Tug' Wilson) Was given a coffee and a peanut butter sarnie and dropped off Alnmouth harbour. The S/K winchman had accidently 'noosed' the winch cable around his wrist when lifting out the sea and was rushed to hospital, leaving me two miles off the coast. I knew the ASR was in the area as we were due to do some deck winching but did not know how close. I could see the coast (lights) in the distance and (in a single man dingy) I rolled onto my belly and struck out for the shore. After about 30 minutes (and making a bit of progress), D92 had manouvred quietly between me and the shore and (without seeing) I simply swam right up to it!

Happy days

Baz

[ppp]

So the only options were giving him £580,000 or he destroys the boat?

[Moggy C]

That's a blackmail tactic familiar to us all here

Moggy

[J Boyle]

Quite. If he loves the boat so much and wants to see it preserved, he'd accept whatever he'll get from the scrappers from a museum or new private owner.

I belong to a vintage car club and we get similar threats all the time.
"Pay me XXX (usually 3 to 10 tems what it's really worth) or I'll scrap it".

Okay then, would you take scrap value for it in order to save it?
No, they want the full amount. Makes no sense.

[ppp]

It looks like he is really struggling for money







The market is so bad it looks like he doing another one! I wonder if he wants us to stump up £500k for that too?

[Lincoln 7]

I think John, there is more to this story than meets the eye. If it were my boat, I would try every avenue to KEEP it myself,not get rid, but as you so rightly say they would never accept the scrap value, Greed, pure greed.I hope it's right what Moggs states, they may give rides, and I am sure as is the same as the Panton Bros JUST JANE rides, and give one the greatest "Buzz" one could wish for.

Jim.

Lincoln .7

[Lincoln 7]

ppp. He is so very obviously hard up, I think we should send him a food parcel What a shame it's owned by such a greedy man. Hope 101 does a "Titanic" on him, or broaches on a very large wave
Jim.
Lincoln .7

[ppp]

@Lincoln 7

Oh and I forgot to mention that doesn't appear to be his home, just another house he rents out. It would be quite good if it sank in port, gives someone else, preferably someone less greedy, a chance to recover and restore it.

[Lincoln 7]

ppp. I would imagine there were quite a number of Aircrew who were shot down and rescued by these very craft, Spitfireman was but one, I wouldn't even start to consider how he felt, when he saw his boat coming to his rescue.
This man obviously has never had the good fortune to ever have been rescued,otherwise he wouldn't even give a thought of selling it.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

[spitfireman]

Spitfireman was but one, I wouldn't even start to consider how he felt, when he saw his boat coming to his rescue.

Lincoln .7

....never saw it coming, it was pitch black. Just became aware of 'something' between me and the shoreline, just a few feet ahead. They were watching my self rescue attempt with night vision gear. I never felt in any danger and it just was 'another' adventure. However, for the briefest moment, it still gave me an insight to how lonely the North Sea was at night, whilst sat in a single man dingy, apparently alone.

Baz

[Lincoln 7]

Baz. I wonder what our lads who bailed out during the War, and ended up in the drink felt. The English Channel can be damned rough at times, apart from being shot down, I guess they would be bricking it, wondering if they would ever be found by the ASR Launches?.

Anyone ever written a book about these unsung heros?.

Jim.

Lincoln .7

[BeeJay]

I was looking for this boat in the Thames flotilla. I had assumed it would make an appearance. I did see what looked like an MTB.
I was dissapointed that the BBC didn't give a few more details of more of the participating ships, boats. I will have to keep my eyes open for the rides in the ASRLaunch.

[Moggy C]

I saw a piece about it broadcast by the Beeb before the flotilla set off

Moggy

[Andy in Beds]

If you want to support a Dunkirk vetwran and get her underway again, please help here.

http://www.medwayqueen.co.uk/

She rescued 7000 men from Dunkirk and featured in a cameo role in the fifties film 'Dunkirk' with John Mills and co.
A.

[J Boyle]

Slightly on topic...since someone mentioned it...
I was a bit disappointed in the BBC coverage of the flotila.
Plenty of Annika Rice (I'm surprised she's still around...I remember her from Treasure Hunt years ago) interviewing artists, but not much details on the ships themselves.

I understand they were going to have liveshots from 9 boats but only 3 worked, but still I would have expected the announcers in the studio have been prepared to fill in and to know and say more than they did.

I think they had about 20 seconds on the Dunkirk fleet in the main broadcast...a huge disappointment.
They did a nice bit on a coal boat brought down the west coast and a couple of segments on a Dutch-style canal boat, pity they couldn't have told us something about other historic boats...especially the wartime craft.

[Lincoln 7]

JBoyle. I too watched the coverage of the flotila, and there was a boat there that looked very much like an ASR Launch, but the wheelhouse and superstructure didn't seem to be 100% right, Could be wrong though.
I am still trying to find out if there is any book/s around about the escapades of the ASR lads and their boats.
Didn't they also pick up downed German pilots?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

[springers]

MTB 102 was in the flotilla and is based in Lowestoft.I believe she has been re-engined with diesels,I can remember her visiting the Dock Basin at Felixstowe before I retired about 7/8 years ago.The Dock Basin was an MTB and ASR base in the war and has now been been filled in to make way for a new container berth for the largest container ships in the world.

Colin.

[Lincoln 7]

Springers. Yes, your right re the diesel engines, but was it 7 or 8 yrs ago?. I was told it was not so long ago she was dried up Southampton way for the refit.
I would imagine it would have been a sight to be seen, to see a squadron of them, tearing in and out of the docks. Another piece of History nearly gone, if 102 is the only known survivor.
I bet the Germans have several of their rescue boats preserved.
Unfortunately, it boils down to that good old word, MONEY.
Thanks for the info.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

[silver fox]

I am still trying to find out if there is any book/s around about the escapades of the ASR lads and their boats.
Didn't they also pick up downed German pilots?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

A book to try, The Sea Shall Not Have Them, a fictional story but based very much on the work of the ASR.

During WW2 the ASR service rescued 13,269 lives from the sea, of these 8,604 were downed air crew.

One of the biggest "fans"was Lieutenant-General Ira C Eaker (Commander of 8th US Air Force in Britain)

His comment was that the ASR were a major part of keeping up the morale of US aircrews who knew that those boats were out there attempting to rescue all and any downed aircrews, before the Americans had a rescue service in place the ASR had already picked up 600 US Air Force crew.

[Lincoln 7]

silver fox. I have seen that film!! but never read the book. You can probably see what I mean, when I say, I have never read any REAL reports of the work the ASR lads carried out. What a staggering amount of rescues these men carried out, in, sometimes terrible conditions, they fought the War on two fronts, firstly the Sea, and there was always the possibility of being straffed by enemy aircraft flying to and from the British coast.
Were their any "Special medals" awarded to the crews of these vessels for their valiant services?.
I would bet my last tanner that some bod could tell you just about every detail of the downed aircraft in the sea, but can they say the same of what boat saved what crews?.
As Moggy states, we tend to remember the aircraft and save them for posterity's sake, but the "Little boats" are oft forgotten.
Many thanks for your input on this, to me, what is a very interesting subject.
Jim.
Lincoln ,7

[silver fox]

silver fox. I have seen that film!! but never read the book. You can probably see what I mean, when I say, I have never read any REAL reports of the work the ASR lads carried out. What a staggering amount of rescues these men carried out, in, sometimes terrible conditions, they fought the War on two fronts, firstly the Sea, and there was always the possibility of being straffed by enemy aircraft flying to and from the British coast.
Were their any "Special medals" awarded to the crews of these vessels for their valiant services?.
I would bet my last tanner that some bod could tell you just about every detail of the downed aircraft in the sea, but can they say the same of what boat saved what crews?.
As Moggy states, we tend to remember the aircraft and save them for posterity's sake, but the "Little boats" are oft forgotten.
Many thanks for your input on this, to me, what is a very interesting subject.
Jim.
Lincoln ,7

The film was an over dramatised (false) version of the book, the book's reference to the ASR launches and the work they did is an amalgam of real episodes, a friend of my Dads now sadly both long gone, served on the ASR launches commanding one before the end of the war.

When he did speak of the work they did, he mainly stressed just how much their work was rescue and their main defence was the sheer speed of the launches.

As someone mentioned previously they picked up downed air crew whatever their nationality, remember the thinking was a German pilot in captivity wasn't going to fly against the UK, so picking them up rather than letting their own rescue services find them was still "good business" and leaving them to the mercy of the sea was not an option.

[dakota2]

John.leech146@talktalk.net

I have a friend who lives and works on the Solent, Plymouth.
He states there is, up the Hamble, an ASR Launch, that is in a good state of repair.
The number, he has stated is .....101...Thats all he can tell me, anyone live down there can shed any light as to whether there is indeed, this vessel moored up there, and if so, any idea as to it's history.
Not being of any interest to him, he has not delved any further into the vessel, anyone any ideas please?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Further details of this boat can possibly be obtained from John.leech146@talktalk.net who is connected with the Aicraft & ASR museum in Suffolk
they have a lot of info on these boats

dakota

[~Alan~]

An old customer of mine used to tell me some stories of when he was
on an RAF ASR launch during WWII.

He spent a lot of his time out in the North sea, waiting to pick up downed
aircrew. Very sad at times listening to aircrew who were going down with
their aircraft, asking him to pass messages to loved ones.