Resources
There are many sites that provide information about the crashboats and their brave crews.
If the name does not sound familiar to you World War Two Veterans its because this is the name it was given when I was introduced to this 63ft boat. You may know it as a Crash Boat, Emergency Rescue Boat, Air Sea Rescue boat, and as the plaque on the boat reads ARB. I know for you military people that ARB in WWII meant Battle Damage Repair Ship, but that's the name given by the builders of these boats.
More information at: http://www.scottdavis61.com/avr.htm
LA Times
The battleship-gray, 85-foot military craft bristling with four .50 caliber machine guns observed navigating the waters off the Orange Coast is a head-turner. What spectators lining the shore see churning through the Pacific waves belongs neither to the U.S. Navy nor Marine Corps. It also has no name. Its only markings are “U.S.A.A.F. P-520,” painted in black on the stern and both sides of the forward pilothouse.
Full Article Here: https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-navy-craft-20170415-story.html
The story of USAAF crash boats in Alaska in WWII and the men who manned them. My dad, Collins Wynn Sr, was a crew member aboard the P750 as a radio operator/cook from 1942 through mid 1945. He appears in this documentary at 12:18 standing outside the pilot house to the right of three other crew. The P750 was a 104' crash boat and was the only one surviving into 2000 when this video was made. Its current status is unknown.
This is the website dedicated to the men and boats of the U. S. Army Air Force Emergency Rescue Boat Service and the U. S. Air Force Crash Boat Service, especially those who served in World War II and Korea. Whether you call them crash boats, AVRs, ASRs, 63' air-sea rescue boats, patrol rescue boats, or your favoriite is the 85' rescue boat, you're in the right place. While there is a lot of information on crash boats available on the web, it is far from complete, sources conflict, and it is widely dispersed. The history of the service of the boats cannot be told without telling of the missions and memories of the men who crewed them. You will find many of their memories collected here.