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USAAF Crash boat P-749


notinfringed
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I recently acquired some pictures of an Army Air Force crash boat in Alaska, either during or shortly after WWII. She is P-749 a.k.a. "Gremlin II".

 

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This is a great picture.. By posting this I was able to identify a picture of a Crash boat that looked like a PT boat. It was docked with several PT boats in the Pacific. I was able to ID the boat as a Crash boat by the hull number..

 

Thank you for helping me solve a mystery..

 

Leigh

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https://uscrashboats.org/cstm_boatBuilders.php

 

The boat you pictured P749 was built by the Ventnor Boat Works in Atlantic City New Jersey. It was 104 feet in length and was assigned to Alaska 10th ERBS. It had 2 1350 horsepower Packard engines. Prior to becoming a rescue boat it was listed as QS-49 which was a fast supply boat.

 

The link above is to a very interesting site about crash boats.. Both your boat and my hull number C16503 which is the Navy hull number for my photo are listed on this website. My photo of the boat I have was formerly an Army boat with the hull designation P403..

 

Leigh

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https://uscrashboats.org/cstm_boatBuilders.php

 

The boat you pictured P749 was built by the Ventnor Boat Works in Atlantic City New Jersey. It was 104 feet in length and was assigned to Alaska 10th ERBS. It had 2 1350 horsepower Packard engines. Prior to becoming a rescue boat it was listed as QS-49 which was a fast supply boat.

 

The link above is to a very interesting site about crash boats.. Both your boat and my hull number C16503 which is the Navy hull number for my photo are listed on this website. My photo of the boat I have was formerly an Army boat with the hull designation P403..

 

Leigh

 

I had actually sent an email to the webmaster of that site before posting this to see if they were interested in copies of the photos. They got back to me this morning and I emailed them the full resolution shots. I'm sure they would be interested in your photos as well if you are willing to share them. It seems like a great resource for crash boat research.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just seeing this... I've been interested in these craft a long time. Great find! These are among the forgotten fleet of WW2 and photos of these boats are rare. Even though they were USAAF boats I wasn't sure if the crews wore Army or Navy gear. Looks like Army uniforms on the crew in this series. Thanks for posting.

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Brian Dentino

Just seeing this... I've been interested in these craft a long time. Great find! These are among the forgotten fleet of WW2 and photos of these boats are rare. Even though they were USAAF boats I wasn't sure if the crews wore Army or Navy gear. Looks like Army uniforms on the crew in this series. Thanks for posting.

You can see the Alaskan "polar bear" patch as well which leads me to believe that these guys were for sure Army.

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Interesting. Back in the early 50s in the Bronx, NYC my dad & I often went fishing on a converted ASR boat which was known as the CLAIRE II. I always thought it was a PT boat until corrected by the skipper. Wonder what became of her? Thanks for the memories........Bobgee

 

P.S. and I found a pic of her via Google!

 

1998-Claire-II-1955.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Great pictures! I have an affection for these craft as well and always fun to see new ones. I collect images relating to crash boats whether USAAF, USN, and USCG. They used many of the same models. I may have a differing opinion about these boats in that I wouldn't really call them "forgotten", more that they are over looked. I say that because they principally operated as small detachments attached to commands. In many cases, stations would only have a small compliment of maybe 3 or half a dozen. You'll find that they were stationed all over or more accurately around the continental united states working in conjunction with a larger component or network. At the same base there would be dozens and dozens of other boats of the same model and size performing all sorts of duties, so they are just folded into the mix. They are not quite like a MTB squadron. Same applies to overseas, but their capabilities were limited and ultimately were not the principle work horse for ASR activities. They were a convenient alternative in certain cases. you'll find that much of their work was in fast response to aircraft accidents near airfields, which is why they were a valuable asset in the united states. Again, same applies to around the islands of the South Pacific.

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  • 1 year later...
notinfringed

I recently picked up part of a grouping to Major General John Bernard Brooks. An ebay seller had an extremely large group of photos and paperwork, and split them into small batches and sold them over the course of several months. I bought all the pictures I could afford at the time, but I missed out on all the paper items. This photo of crash boat p-511 during an inspection was in the lot.

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vostoktrading

Interesting thread. I wonder what those markings are on the last picture above, they look like kill markings like you see on the sides of fighter planes. Must be missions or saves? They almost look like German crosses.

I found this matchbook from Herreshoff. Herreshoff is/was a famous yacht design company.

Jon.

 

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notinfringed

Interesting thread. I wonder what those markings are on the last picture above, they look like kill markings like you see on the sides of fighter planes. Must be missions or saves? They almost look like German crosses.

I found this matchbook from Herreshoff. Herreshoff is/was a famous yacht design company.

Jon.

 

 

I'm just guessing here, but since it is a crash boat, I would think the crosses are for successful missions. Possibly one for each airman saved, or each crew? It would be interesting to know for sure. That is one awesome match book.

 

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