A-1 lifeboat (Higgins airborne lifeboat)

The A-1 lifeboat was a powered, 27 foot airborne lifeboat that Higgins Industries built for the United States Army Air Forces so that a bomber could drop it by parachute to airmen who had come down at sea. Andrew Higgins judged the British Fox airborne lifeboat too weak to survive a rough drop, and in November 1943 his engineers began a sturdier version with two air-cooled engines. The boat weighed about 3,300 pounds, was built of laminated mahogany with 20 waterproof compartments so that it would not sink if swamped, and carried food, water and clothing for 12 survivors for about 20 days. A modified B-17, the SB-17, carried it under the fuselage and released it at about 120 miles per hour, after which three parachutes slowed its fall. The first emergency drop was made on 31 March 1945 in the North Sea, and the A-3 later replaced it.