ASRP 1218 - up for sale

Hi again,

the wartime construction of RAF HSLs was mainly in the hands of the British Power Boat Company for the simple reason that Hubert Scott Paine had to fight a long battle with the then MOD to have his designs accepted.  The 'old boy' network was stacked against him in Admiralty circles with Peter Du Caine of Vospers. Thornycrofts yard aslo had a long history with the Navy and their designs too were favoured over Scotty's.

The main factor for the delay in fulfilling the RAFs ASR requirement was engines as the Navy had first call on all high speed petrol marine engines such as Thornycroft RY12, Packards, and until Italy entered the war, Isotto Franchinis.  Had the BPC not entered into an agreement with Napier Aero Engines to produce a marinised version of their LION then virtually no engines would have benn available to them.  They had a similar arrangement with Meadows for the smaller power plants.  Fortunately slower RAF marine craft could use diesels and this enabled the Ministry of Aircraft Production to order GS., ASR and GD Pinnaces by using Gardiner and Perkins engines.

When Vospers built their fifteen 73ft HSLs for the RAF, they used twoThornycroft RY12s as the main engines, and Vosper/Ford V.8 as auxilliaries.  The Thornycroft 67ft HSL (which were the most numerous of all wartime HSL) were powere by their own engines.

The British Power Boat Company had also been promised an unlimited supply of Rolls Royce Merlins for marinisation around which they had produced new designs, but the War Dept bagged all R/R production for aircraft.

Nice pics Chris! She does look pretty good but seems to be at the that critical point where she will go downhill pretty quickly if TLC isnt forthcoming! 

To have survived so long in such original condition is amazing..have you or the owner looked at getting one of these emergency grants from the historic ships register?  Its been discussed here a few times may be worthwhile trying to secure some money even if she is for sale.