Airborne lifeboats were powered lifeboats that were made to be dropped by fixed-wing aircraft into water to aid in air-sea rescue operations. An airborne lifeboat was to be carried by a heavy bomber specially modified to handle the external load of the lifeboat. The airborne lifeboat was intended to be dropped by parachute to land within reach of the survivors of an accident on the ocean, specifically airmen survivors of an emergency water landing. Airborne lifeboats were used during World War II by the United Kingdom and on Dumbo rescue missions by the United States from 1943 until the mid-1950s.
A British, Uffa Fox-type airborne lifeboat, shown rigged for sailing, in front of a Vickers Warwick
A Vickers Warwick bomber carrying the Uffa Fox-designed airborne lifeboat underneath
Saunders-Roe Mark 3 airborne lifeboat fitted underneath an Avro Shackleton
A Boeing SB-17G, an air-sea rescue aircraft modified to carry the A-1 lifeboat
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crew and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine. Lifeboats may be rigid, inflatable or rigid-inflatable combination-hulled vessels.
RNLI lifeboat in Dunbar Harbour, 1981
1906 postcard captioned, The start of the life-boat, Cape Cod
CCGS Cape Sutil, a 14.6 metres (48 ft) motor life boat.
An all-weather lifeboat from the SNSM. This is the largest class of French lifeboat, at 18 metres long. The association owns 41 all-weather rescue boats, there are 30 of this type, the others being all-weather rescue boats of the 15.50 m class and the new generation all-weather rescue boats (CTT NG).
