Air Rescue Squadrons in the late 1940s

[fahnach]

What is the meaning of the acronym ARIRS (or AR1RS?) used by this Air Rescue PBY Catalina during the late 1940s or early 50s?
Best,

[John Dupre]

Could it be an early an early attempt at international acronyms so that non US personnel could understand the mission? Didn't Air Sea Rescue become Sea Air Rescue because SAR was more readily understandable in Europe?

[David Legg]

What is the meaning of the acronym ARIRS (or AR1RS?) used by this Air Rescue PBY Catalina during the late 1940s or early 50s?
Best,

I believe it is 'AR 1RS' and it means 'Air Rescue - 1st Rescue Squadron'. In Europe 'SAR' meant 'Search and Rescue', not as suggested in the post immediately above.

Any chance of posting the complete photo John?

[fahnach]

Thank you very much for the info.
Photo credit is unknown, obtained from a Guatemalan aviation site with an incorrect photo caption: 'Guatemala, 1945'. Possibly Guatemala, but taken after 1947 ...

[JohnB]

What's up with the nose turret? Looks like something's been added to it.


BTW: Looks like a modern WWII themed "hangar dance". Women in long skirts, GIs in baggy tans, nearby Jeep...

[The Inspector]

What's up with the nose turret? Looks like something's been added to it.


BTW: Looks like a modern WWII themed "hangar dance". Women in long skirts, GIs in baggy tans, nearby Jeep...

That was the final version of the front turret on pig boats utilizing twin .50's and that's a -6 given the tall fin and landing gear as all the NAF PBN 'NOMADS' were straight boats and Boeing Canada had ceased production of P2B2's (which also had the tall tail) by then. Too bad we can't see a s/n. I've always wondered about the effects of sitting right under that radar antenna-

[David Legg]

What's up with the nose turret? Looks like something's been added to it.


BTW: Looks like a modern WWII themed "hangar dance". Women in long skirts, GIs in baggy tans, nearby Jeep...

That was the final version of the front turret on pig boats utilizing twin .50's and that's a -6 given the tall fin and landing gear as all the NAF PBN 'NOMADS' were straight boats and Boeing Canada had ceased production of P2B2's (which also had the tall tail) by then. Too bad we can't see a s/n. I've always wondered about the effects of sitting right under that radar antenna-

In fact, although it would have been built as a "-6" (ie: PBY-6A) for the US Navy, the aircraft shown is an aircraft diverted to the air force and as such is an OA-10B.

The designation "P2B2" that is quoted above as an aside should correctly read PB2B-2.

[The Inspector]

What's up with the nose turret? Looks like something's been added to it.


BTW: Looks like a modern WWII themed "hangar dance". Women in long skirts, GIs in baggy tans, nearby Jeep...

That was the final version of the front turret on pig boats utilizing twin .50's and that's a -6 given the tall fin and landing gear as all the NAF PBN 'NOMADS' were straight boats and Boeing Canada had ceased production of P2B2's (which also had the tall tail) by then. Too bad we can't see a s/n. I've always wondered about the effects of sitting right under that radar antenna-

In fact, although it would have been built as a "-6" (ie: PBY-6A) for the US Navy, the aircraft shown is an aircraft diverted to the air force and as such is an OA-10B.

The designation "P2B2" that is quoted above as an aside should correctly read PB2B-2.

Fat fingers

[fahnach]

USAF OA-10B, Lago Atitlán, Guatemala. Perhaps 45-57834?

Photo credit unknown (Blanco Azul ... Guatemalan aviation site).

[Larry Kraus]

Here are a few pages from a PBY-6A Flight Manual showing the late model bow turret as well as the waist guns.Again,sorry that these pages are so large,but that seems to be the only size that I can use from my Photobucket files for some reason.

[jdvoss]

Thanks so much for posting the photo!! It's the first photo I've ever seen of the OA-10B let alone in great color. IIRC, the USAAF received 75 A/C all from Consolidated's New Orleans factory.