Rescue of Downed Aircrew
A lone pilot in his raft.
Submarine Rescues
One of the U.S. Navy's strategic advantages was the ability to rescue its aircrews. It is often said that Japanese pilots from about late 1943 on were "green", poorly trained and ineffective in combat. Replacement pilots were necessary due to huge pilot losses at Coral Sea, Midway and Rabaul. Japan had lost command of the air over it's battlefields, and without controlling the airspace could not rescue its pilots. Aircrew casualties, therefore, continued to increase. On the other hand, the USN could and did rescue many aircrew whose planes were shot down.
Welcome Aboard.
One method that the USN could use to get fliers out of the drink was rescue by submarines on "lifeguard" duty. The legendary Captain Dick O'Kane (later Rear Admiral) and his boat Tang pulled quite a few aircrew out of their liferafts, or off of the wings of a floatplane during Hailstone. Other subs were also on lifeguard duty.
Downed aircrew await rescue aboard a "Kingfisher" floatplane launched from one of the Task Force's cruisers.
A cruiser is a surface ship, larger than a desroyer and smaller than a battleship. Cruisers are "big gun" ships that have long-range, 6-inch or 8-inch main batteries. In order to direct their gunfire accurately at ranges of over ten miles, they have the capability of launching light aircraft from catapults. The planes are equipped with floats and they land in the water, after which they are hoisted back aboard for reuse.
During Hailstone, cruisers such as Baltimore used their floatplanes to rescue aviators who were unfortunate enough to go down inside the reef, where submarines could not safely navigate. Pilots had orders to try and make a forced landing outside the atoll. Sometimes, the plane couldn't make it that far.
One pilot who had an eventful mission was Lt(jg) George Blair, who got shot down and ditched inside the reef. Emergency procedure called for deploying the liferaft and getting off the plane before it sunk, but Blair's raft was shot up. He went into the water with only his life vest for floatation.
George Blair, seated in the observer's place at the rear. The observer is preparing to "catch the hook", which will allow the plane to be winched aboard.
A Japanese destroyer saw Blair and began firing at him. The destroyer shaped a course toward Blair and distance closed, but before things got too bad U.S. fighters began raking the destroyer with their machine guns. The destroyer turned away and the fighters retired, low on fuel.
The fighters radioed for a rescue plane and one was launched from Baltimore. Since it was not known if Blair was hurt, the observer came along to assist if necessary. Observation seaplanes like the Kingfisher are not very powerful and can't carry an extra man as well as a full tank of gas, so the Kingfisher's crew offloaded gas to lighten the load. Blair was picked up and returned to the Baltimore. It is said that the Kingfisher had less than a pint of fuel in its tank when it was refueled.
A drier and happier George Blair with his new friends.
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