The Sea Shall Not Have Them: John Harris

The epic story of the Air-Sea Rescue Service as it operated in World War II. It was the Cinderella of the services - rarely mentioned or praised, yet it had a stupendous record of saving literally thousands of lives. In the autumn of 1944, when the Allied Armies were sweeping across France, a V.I.P.'s Hudson aircraft is shot down by a Messerschmitt in the North Sea. The crew and passenger have to take to a rubber dinghy. The location of the ditching is not exactly known - yet the survivors must be found with all haste. Air-Sea Rescue Launch No. 7525 and a sister vessel begin the search, which brings them in range of the German shore batteries after long hours that test endurance to the limit.