RESCUE CATS -PBY Catalina crews save airmen from hostile seas

"TO A COLD, WET AND HUNGRY AIRMAN, sitting in a rubber dinghy in enemy waters, 600 miles from the nearest friendly base and 600 yards from the nearest enemy installation, the PBY is a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

- BY CLIVE ROWLEY, MBE RAF (RET.)

The happy airman sees not only a great white flying boat. He sees more. He sees his friends, his wife, his parents and his children. He sees food and warmth and safety. He sees home." - Lt Laurence B. Craig, 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron PBY (A0-10) Catalina pilot in the Pacific

USAAF air-sea rescue

When the U.S. entered World War Two, the Army Air Force was neither prepared nor equipped for rescue operations at sea. In 1942 and 1943, the rescue of downed airmen in the sea was conducted by the U.S. Navy and by Britain's now well-organized and experienced air-sea rescue service. American crews were protected by the existing British service over the English Channel, the North Sea, North Africa and the waters off India and Burma. There was no need for duplication of effort in those areas.

By the spring of 1943, however, the scale and wide-ranging nature of the AAF combat operations was no longer limited enough to allow the continued dependence upon the assistance of others for air-sea rescue, especially in the Pacific Theater of Operations. In the fall of 1943, recognizing a responsibility to its airmen, the AAF drafted plans to raise seven Emergency Rescue Squadrons (ERS) for air-sea rescue operations. These squadrons were to be equipped with the amphibious version of the Consolidated PBY flying boat, the PBY-5A, known as the Catalina by the Royal Air Force and U.S. Navy. In USAAF service the aircraft was designated OA-10A. The schedule called for the ERSs to be operational by the spring of 1944, with most of the units planned to support the Pacific Air Forces.