Royal Air Force - Air Sea Rescue & Marine Craft Section Boats

• Long Range Craft
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• High Speed Launches
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• Rescue & Target Towing
  Launches
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• Pinnaces
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• Range Safety Launches
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• Seaplane Tenders
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• Fire Floats
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• Marine Tenders
  & Ferry Boats
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• W/T Servicing Tenders
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• Landing Craft
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• Refuellers
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• Target Boats
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• Bomb Scows
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• Dinghies & IRC
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• Miscellaneous
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• Paintings
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• Models
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• Contact Author
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• Search Facility
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Introduction to the site....

The site has come about from my desire to collate in one place as many pictures as possible of the boats that served the branch so well, from the humble beginings in 1918 to the untimely closure in 1986.

A big thank you goes to Donald Smith (Marine Craft Historian) and Terry Holtham (Military Small Craft Historian) for providing me with so much background material and photographs. Also, a big thank you to Budge Bergin (Wireless Operator on the boats for 8½ years at various Marine Craft Units's, including Mount Batten, Alness, Portrush, Holyhead Seletar and Penang) who has, and continues to clean up a lot of photographs on the site.

I would of course like to pass on my thanks to all those who have contributed to the site by providing pictures for inclusion or by permitting their photographs previousy published in books, magazines, and the internet to be displayed.

There are numerous pictures without a location and date taken associated with them, if you can provide these details it would be really helpful.

So, if anyone has any pictures they would like to see displayed on the site, especially those that fill in the gaps, then please contact me and make a contribution towards creating a pictorial history of the boats we all loved so dearly. I hope everyone gets as much enjoyment from browsing the site as I do developing it.

Update....

5th October 2011
New addition, 60ft GS Pinnace MK II, 1223.
Photos added to galleries of Seaplane Tenders 357 and 1506, RTTL 2594 and 63ft GS Pinnace Mk1 1374.
All the pictures have been kindly donated from the albumn of Mr G Blowers.

6th October 2011
Photos added to galleries of RTTL Mk1B 2753 and Mk3 4002 (Stirling)
All the pictures have been kindly donated from the albumn of Mr Mick Burton.

7th October 2011
New addition, 60ft GS Pinnace MK II, 56. Photos added to gallery of HMAFV Bridport.
All the pictures have been kindly donated from the albumn of Mr Owen Newland.

Photos added to galleries of 1371, 1387, 1668, 4003 (Halifax) and 4007 (Wellington).
All the pictures have been kindly donated from the albumn of Nigel Waugh.