HMAS Air View (923) was a Miami-class 63-foot Air-Sea Rescue Boat that was operated by the Royal Australian Navy during World War II, and later by the Royal Australian Air Force. Built by Fellows & Stewart in Wilmington, California.
| History | |
|---|---|
 Australia | |
| Name | HMAS Air View |
| Operator | Royal Australian Navy |
| Ordered | 4 March 1944 |
| Builder | Fellows & Stewart, Wilmington, California |
| Commissioned | 20 November 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 30 September 1946 |
| Fate | Transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force in 1949 |
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| Name | 02-109 |
| Operator | Royal Australian Air Force |
| Acquired | 1949 |
| Fate | Sold to private owners, 1985 |
| Status | Undergoing restoration, 2012 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | Miami-class air-sea rescue boat |
| Displacement | 23 long tons (23 t) |
| Length | 63 ft (19 m) o/a |
| Beam | 15 ft 4 in (4.67 m) |
| Draught | 4 ft (1.2 m) |
| Propulsion | 2 × 630 hp (470 kW) Hall-Scott Defender V12 petrol engines |
| Speed | 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph) |
| Endurance | 14.5 hours |
| Complement | 7 or 8 |
| Armament | 2 × twin .50 cal. M2 Browning machine guns |
Design
editThe Miami class rescue boats were wooden-hulled, and powered by two 630 hp (470 kW) Hall-Scott Defender petrol engines giving a top speed of 31.5 knots. They were armed with two twin .50 calibre M2 Browning machine guns mounted either side of the bridge. The crew comprised one officer in command, a coxswain, two engineers, two seamen and one or two radio operators.[2]
Service history
editAir View was one of a class of twenty boats ordered on 4 March 1944.[1] They were all Model 314 boats, designed by the Miami Shipbuilding Corporation, of Miami, Florida, but built at a number of shipyards in California.[3] Air View was built by Fellows & Stewart in Wilmington, California, as hull C-26683[4] and arrived at Sydney aboard the MV Laponia in June 1944, and was commissioned on 20 November 1944.[1]
Air View was stationed in and around Sydney until September 1945, when she sailed for Darwin, and subsequently operated in the Torres Strait into 1946.[5]
Air View was placed into reserve on 30 September 1946, and in 1949 she was one of thirteen RAN rescue boats transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force,[1] and renamed 02-109. She was stationed at Neutral Bay in Sydney, and in Townsville, Queensland.[6][7]
The boat was sold by the RAAF to private owners in 1985, being the last of her class still in service. In 2011 the boat was acquired by a Melbourne based scuba-diving training company and is undergoing restoration.[8][9]
Air View is listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Dunn, Peter (2008). "Air-Sea Rescue Boats, RAN, during WW2". Australia at War. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
- ^ Thompson, R.H.J. (November 2011). "Fairmile class patrol boats and kin ships: a brief history" (PDF). The Fairmile Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
- ^ Buhler, Jean E. (July–October 2008). "Development of the Miami 63-foot Aircraft Rescue Boat" (PDF). The Northern Mariner. XVIII (3–4). Picton, Ontario: Canadian Nautical Research Society: 173–184. doi:10.25071/2561-5467.337. S2CID 247330840. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
- ^ Colton, Tim (2013). "Fellows & Stewart". shipbuildinghistory.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
- ^ "AWN78 Reports and proceedings HMA Ships and Establishments: HMAS Air View" (PDF). Australian War Memorial. December 1944 – June 1946. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
- ^ "ca. 1972–73: RAAF crash boat 02-109".
- ^ "1960: RAAF ASR depot opposite submarine base".
- ^ "International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers". iantd.com.au. 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
- ^ "Air View comes to Melbourne, August 2012". blog.aquability.com.au. 2013. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
- ^ "Air View (HV000574)". Australian National Maritime Museum. 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
External links
edit- "HMAS Air View". Royal Australian Navy. 2015.