Crash Boat Photograph Album

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Added: January 16, 2007
Revised: August 07, 2012

000020-01-00.pdf A photo album showing several AAF Crash Boats. Photographs were contributed by Larry Caldwell, son of Cpl. Charles Caldwell. Charles Caldwell trained as a Radio Operator/Mechanic and served on Crash Boat P-258 at Rey Island, Panama. He entered the service in March 1943 and was discharged in February 1946.

This update adds pictures of two boats, J-627 and P-510. Pages now appear in order by boat number.

1.6Mb
18 pages; PDF (.pdf)
Original item: Photo Album; Various

Comments

[1] Bob (16-Aug-2008 11:43 PM)

My Dad served on a 105 ft crash boat in WWII pacific. I have searched for photo for years and this is the first good pictures I could find for him.
Thanks for sharing

[2] Adam Farrow (29-Jun-2010 01:41 AM)

I own P-272 a 104 crash boat and would like to find out any info I can. Great photos, the best I have found. Thanks Adam

[3] Al Higginbotham (27-Feb-2011 04:26 PM)

My dad served in the Army Crash Rescue Service during WW II (Flordia and the Aleutian Islands). This is ths best set of photographs we have been able to find showing the type of boats he served on. He is extemely proud to be able to show our family members (down to and including the great grandchildren) pictures of the boats he served on. Thanks you very much for sharing them.

[4] Larry Caldwell (14-May-2013 03:55 PM)

In response to Adam and the P-272.

P-272 was manufactured by Ventnor Boat Works, Atlantic City, NJ in 1943. It was a 105' boat w/two gas engines with 2,400HP.

Ref: U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of WWII by David H. Grover. Published 1987 by Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland.

[5] Joh Piazza III (01-Mar-2015 05:52 PM)

My father, John Piazza II, USArmy Tech Sargeant T-5 ,rode a particular army crash boat to the San Jose Islands chemical weapons test facility. He was a good friend of the captain, who would always invite him for breakfeast. His dates of service in Panama were @ July 1945-July 1946. Any information on Captain, Crew, and/or boat would be welcome. My thanks to all aboard who showed good friendship to a brother in arms. I may have some photos of the boat but I will have to search an extensive collection.
Sincerely,
John Piazza III
570-321-1818

[6] George Metcalf (25-Aug-2021 02:07 PM)

My Grandfather WOJG Richard (Dick) Carter Metcalf was the Skipper/Master of P-570 in WWII. 15th ERBS, 13th A.F, Leyte Gulf Philippine???s, Pacific. It is believed that his crash boat picked up the crew of Lucky Strike B-24M-5-CO Liberator Bomber 44-41876 of the 380th Bomb Group crash landed off of Borneo. My Grandfather Staff Sargent Milton George Mitchel was the BT Gunner. They figured it out at my parents??? wedding.

[7] Carlos Ruth (28-Sep-2022 04:14 PM)

For more information on crash (air sea rescue) boats, check out www.uscrashboats.org Much of their information came from this site but there is very much more information.

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Army Air Forces Collection Item 000020 is licensed by Mike Voisin under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Revised: January 11, 2023
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