Air-Sea Rescue

Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue ) is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people who have survived the loss of their seagoing vessel. ASR can involve a wide variety of resources including seaplanes, helicopters, submarines, rescue boats and ships. Specialized equipment and techniques have been developed. Military and civilian units can perform air-sea rescue.

Air-sea rescue operations carried out during war have saved valuable trained and experienced airmen. Moreover, the knowledge that such operations are being carried out greatly enhanced the morale of the combat aircrew faced not only with the expected hostile reaction of the enemy but with the possible danger of aircraft malfunction during long overwater flights.

Air-sea rescue by flying boat or floatplane was the first method used to pick up aviators or sailors who were struggling in the water. Any other aircraft design had the additional danger of ditching in the water and requiring immediate rescue, but seaplanes could land on the water in an emergency and wait for rescue. Long range, endurance, and the ability to stay on station for long periods of time were seen as essential to naval aviation requirements for rescue aircraft. Robust radio equipment was necessary for contact with land and ocean surface forces. Training and weather accidents could require an aircrew to be rescued, and seaplanes were occasionally used for that purpose. The limitation was that if the water's surface were too rough, the aircraft would not be able to land. The most that could be done was to drop emergency supplies to the survivors, or to signal surface ships or rescue boats to guide them to the correct location. An early air-sea rescue was performed in August 1911 by Hugh Robinson who landed his Curtiss Aeroplane Company seaplane on Lake Michigan to pull a crashed pilot out of the water.

Dedicated air-sea rescue units were not organized by any nation until the end World War I. Some rescues were performed, however, by individuals and groups acting on their own initiative, such as the United States Navy Reserve pilot Ensign Charles Hammann who, during the Adriatic Campaign, rescued a fellow aviator adrift in the Adriatic Sea by landing on the water in his seaplane.

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