HMAS Air Faith (909)

HMAS Air Faith (909) 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.

History
Australia
Name: HMAS Air Faith
Operator: Royal Australian Navy
Ordered: 4 March 1944
Builder: South Coast Company, Newport Beach, California
Commissioned: 8 February 1945
Decommissioned: 20 August 1946
Fate: Transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force in 1949
Status: Returned to Royal Australian Navy in 1965, sold 1968.
Australia
Name: 02-101
Operator: Royal Australian Air Force
Acquired: 1949
Fate: Returned to Royal Australian Navy in 1965
Australia
Name: Air Faith
Operator: Quayside Charters
Homeport: Sydney
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

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 Faith 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 Faith was built by South Coast Company in Newport Beach, California, as hull C-26647[4] and arrived at Sydney aboard the Cecil G. Sellars and was commissioned on 8 February 1945.[1]

Air Faith was placed into reserve on 20 August 1946, and in 1949 she was one of thirteen RAN rescue boats transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force,[1] and renamed 02-101.

The boat was returned to the RAN in 1965, and sold to private interests on 3 July 1968. The boat was sold again in 1972 and has been with the current owner ever since. The boat is moored in Sydney Harbour and has been operating as a charter vessel since 1998.[5] The boat has had major modifications, but the hull is clearly visible as its former air sea rescue style. A superstructure was fitted as a saloon area in the 1980s. The Hall Scott petrol engines were replaced in the 1970s with GM's, and recently with Fiat diesels.

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References
  1. Dunn, Peter (2008). "Air-Sea Rescue Boats, RAN, during WW2". Australia at War. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  2. 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 10 April 2013.
  3. Buhler, Jean E. (July–October 2008). "Development of the Miami 63-foot Aircraft Rescue Boat" (PDF). The Northern Mariner. Picton, Ontario: Canadian Nautical Research Society. XVIII (3–4): 173–184. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  4. Colton, Tim (2013). "South Coast Shipbuilding". shipbuildinghistory.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  5. "Sydney Harbour Cruise Air Faith". quaysidecharters.com.au. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
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