Crash boats of World War II
Crash boats, at the time known as "aircraft rescue boats" or "air-sea rescue boats", were United States high speed boats built to rescue the crew of downed Allied aircraft during World War II. US boats came from the observation of British experience with high-speed launches (HSL) by the Royal Air Force Marine Branch during the Battle of Britain.
85-foot crash boat P-520 on the Willamette River in Portland in 2007
AAF / USAF Crash Rescue Boat Association plaque, in Memorial Park at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio
Army Air Forces 42 foot Rescue Boat
42 foot boats built for US Army, cutaway
Fellows & Stewart Inc. was a shipbuilding company in San Pedro, California on Terminal Island's Pier 206. To support the World War II demand for ships Fellows & Stewart built Crash rescue boats and submarine chasers. The Crash rescue boats were operated by both the US Navy and US Army during the war. Some crash rescue boat also served in the Korean War. Fellows & Stewart was founded as Joe Fellows Boat Shop in 1896. Joe Fellows was an English immigrant who learned boat building in Seattle and San Francisco. The company changed to Fellows & Stewart as the shipyard manager, Victor Stewart joined in as a partner. Many of the boats were designed by Joseph Pugh. From 1907 to 1917 called the Joe Fellows Yacht and Launch Company. In the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s the shipyard built many yachts and sailboats. The name changed to the Fellows & Stewart Inc. in 1917. In 1967 the shipyard was sold to Harbor Boatbuilding. The shipyard is sometimes listed as being in Wilmington. The records of Fellows & Stewart are housed at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. Notable boats and ships: HMAS Air View, USS SC-1012, Rudolph Valentino's 1926 yacht Charade (Phoenix) and the Ranger built in 1917 active at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
US Navy NH 96504 a 63 ft (19 m) air-sea rescue boat built by Fellows & Stewart
US Navy submarine chaser SC-1011 built by Fellows & Stewart, off Terminal Island in July 1943.
US Army tugboat ST-2110 built by Fellows & Stewart, in Cat Lai, Vietnam, in 1971