HMAS Air View (923)
| 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 |
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.
Design
The 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
Air 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
- ^ 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. 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
- "HMAS Air View". Royal Australian Navy. 2015.