Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) AIR–SEA RESCUE Rescuing downed air crew from open water was highly risky and required specialized boats and training Initially, both sides in Europe recognized and respected rescue operations conducted under the Red Cross emblem German and British air–sea rescue missions involving clearly marked float planes and small rescue ships were usually unmolested as they recovered pilots and crew from the North Sea, at least during 1939 Even as the situation deteriorated for the Western Allies during FALL GELB in May–June, 1940, and throughout the Battle of Britain that summer, this mutual courtesy of war extended to the Channel But not always: British fighters shot down several clearly marked German rescue aircraft looking for downed Luftwaffe pilots in the Channel, while German gunboats shot up well-marked British rescue boats German air–sea rescue was initially more successful than its British counterpart, largely because the Germans pioneered a portable rescue transmitter After the British captured one they closely copied it to produce the “Gibson Girl,” which helped save thousands of ditched aircrew over the duration of the war RAF and Coastal Command greatly expanded air–sea rescue programs in tandem with the maturing strategic bombing of Germany That included mounting deep rescue operations searching for ditched bomber crews in much more distant waters than the Channel By 1942 British rescue technique was significantly enhanced by providing bomber crews with dinghies, marker dies to enhance spotting, and Gibson Girl transmitters Addition to air survival kits of a crystal oscillator in 1943 permitted precise radar tracking of downed crews If they bailed out of the aircraft with the oscillator intact they were far more likely to be picked up by rescue ships vectored to their position The Royal Canadian Navy also carried out extensive rescue efforts off North America early in the Battle of the Atlantic The British and Canadians were later joined in the North Sea, Atlantic, and Mediterranean by a parallel American air–sea rescue operation that ultimately achieved a remarkable success rate USAAF and U.S Navy rescue efforts in the Pacific faced huge difficulties of longdistance operations over vast stretches of open water Yet, rescues were successful in many instances Initially, rescues were carried out ad hoc by diverting regular patrol squadrons to suspected bail-out or crash sites Air–Sea Rescue Squadrons were formed in the U.S Pacific Fleet as of April 1944, as U.S naval assets reached a level of abundance the Japanese could not imagine Some rescues were made from one side of a coral reef with Japanese infantry shooting at the downed crew and rescue team from a nearby island The Royal Australian Navy pioneered flotillas of small rescue craft in the Arafura Sea, Timor Sea, around New Guinea, and off the Dutch East Indies Japanese air–sea rescue was increasingly hampered from the end of 1942, as were virtually all Japanese military operations in the Pacific, as Japan’s naval forces were heavily attrited and its so-called defense perimeter was tightly compressed See also carrier pigeons; Convoy Rescue Ships; helicopters; Laconia Order AIR TRANSPORT AUXILIARY (ATA) A British volunteer aviation unit comprised mainly of civilian pilots For reasons of age, gender, or health—there were several one-armed or one-eyed ATA pilots—these pilots were not draftable 31