Sailors in the RAF - Keith Beardow

Tells the story of the Marine Branch of the Royal Air Force which, over nearly 70 years, provided waterborne support and rescue services for the RAF yet, strangely, was hardly known to the public and even remained something of a mystery within the armed forces.;This book provides a history of this Marine Branch, describing the work, craft and heroics of the sailors in the RAF, who were every bit as remarkable as the daring airmen they supported. It chronicles the development of the service from its inauguration as the Marine Craft Section in 1918, just days after the RAF itself was founded, through to its privatization in 1968. Includes details of some of its more famous crewmen such as novelist Alistair Maclean, writer John Harris, racing driver Sir Algemon Guinness and, by association, T.E. Lawrence.;Full of human interest, the book features hair-raising accounts of rescue attempts right in the heart of enemy territory, and others carried out in the teeth of hellish weather. Well illustrated with photographs showing the craft in action.