CSAR Series Part 2: Germany's Seenotdienst

As the CSAR tutorial continues...

The 1939-era German Seenotdienst obtained 14 Heinkel twin-engine seaplanes. The newly acquired He59s were modified with floor hatches, hoists, and life belts, and were stocked with heated sleeping bags and other survival equipment. German engineers developed a high-contrast flourescent sea dye so that downed pilots could signal their positions to searchers overhead. The Luftwaffe, for its part, placed inflatable rubber dinghies on board aircraft, and added survival training to the pilot curriculum. Instructors taught pilots that if given the choice between ditching a crippled aircraft atop the waves or bailing out via parachute, it was preferable to ditch. A downed plane could float for about a minute, during which time a quick-acting pilot could disentangle himself from the cockpit and activate his dinghy.

British CSAR, meanwhile, was far less organized. The island nation owned a small fleet of military rescue craft - its famed High-Speed Launch (HSL) boats - but these were assigned to a number of flying boat bases in far flung Ceylon, Aden, and Hong Kong. In early 1939, when it became increasingly evident that England would go to war, Britain recalled the entire HSL fleet and stationed them close to home. Still, fewer than 30 rescue boats were in service or in production.

British sea-rescue capabilities were further hampered by false assumptions on what would befall pilots shot down over the English Channel. Military planners believed that the channel was so busy with shipping and other traffic that a downed flier would only have to bob atop atop the waves a short time before being plucked up by a passing ship. Pilots were given small life jackets, known as Mae Wests, but were not issued dinghies nor sea dye.

When war broke out in 1939, German torpedoes sunk the merchant ship Kensington Court in the North Sea. Two Sunderland flying boats saved the entire crew. But the Sunderlands were not designed for search and rescue; their primary mission was to destroy enemy submarines. The British dedicated CSAR mission consisted only of the HSL craft, plus a haphazard system that relied largely on volunteer aid from civilian fishing boats; distress signals; and sluggish landline phone relays.

There was a clear imbalance. Germany knew how to rescue its airmen. Britain did not.

Tomorrow: Chivarly at sea.