Lindholme Gear (also known as Air Sea Rescue Apparatus Mk 4) was a British air-dropped rescue equipment designed during the Second World War to aid survivors in the water and was still in use in the 21st century.
Design and development
The Lindholme Gear was developed at
RAF Lindholme
Royal Air Force Station Lindholme or more simply RAF Lindholme is a former Royal Air Force station in South Yorkshire, England. It was located south of Thorne and north east of Doncaster and was initially called RAF Hatfield Woodhouse.
Ea ...
by Group Captain Waring during the 1940s to provide a simpler rescue system than the
air-dropped lifeboats then in use. The Lindholme Gear is five cylinder-shaped containers joined together by lengths of
floating rope
Floating may refer to:
* a type of dental work performed on horse teeth
* use of an isolation tank
* the guitar-playing technique where chords are sustained rather than scratched
* ''Floating'' (play), by Hugh Hughes
* Floating (psychological ...
.
The centre container would house a nine-man inflatable dinghy with the other containers housing survival equipment such as emergency rations and clothing.
The containers were discarded containers from the tail-units of 500lb and 250lb bombs.
Operation
The Gear would be carried in the weapons bay of the aircraft and dropped in a long line up-wind of the survivors. The Dinghy would inflate on impact and then drift towards the survivors. The survivors could then use the dinghy, haul in the containers of equipment, and await rescue.
The Lindholme Gear was originally designed to be carried by Hampden aircraft
but was mainly carried by
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
maritime patrol aircraft like the
Vickers Warwick
The Vickers Warwick was a multi-purpose twin-engined British aircraft developed and operated during the Second World War. In line with the naming convention followed by other RAF heavy bombers of the era, it was named after a British city or ...
and later the
Avro Lancaster,
Avro Shackleton
The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a develo ...
and
Hawker Siddeley Nimrod
The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is a retired maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first operational jet airliner. It was originally designed ...
. The Gear was also used by the
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
and the South African Air Force
Avro Shackleton
The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a develo ...
.
Lindholme gear was also carried in the bomb bay by the Royal Australian Air Force maritime patrol aircraft Lockheed P3B & P3C Orions, consisting of two 10-man liferafts and two stores containers; this equipment was later replaced by ASRK (Air Sea Rescue Kits).
See also
*
CLE Canister
The CLE Canister, or CLE Container was a standardized cylindrical container used by the British during World War 2 to airdrop supplies to troops on the ground. The name initially derived from the Central Landing Establishment
The Central Landin ...
air dropped container for various supplies
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite journal , date=22 October 1954 , title=Wet Work , journal=]Flight International
''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's old ...
, page= 617
[{{cite journal , date=21 May 1943 , title=Canadian Air Men Cheat Davey Jones , journal=The Millburn & Short Hills Item , page=14 , url=http://www.millburn.lib.nj.us/40s/1943/May21/1943.pdf]
[{{cite book , year=2002 , title=AVRO Shackleton , publisher= Crowood Aviation Series , page=114]
Rescue aviation
Rescue equipment