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Show New Gadgets Aid Rescues at Sea Life -Saving Contrivances Highly Important War Contribution. WASHINGTON. Air-sea rescue is a new war business that promises to carry on in peace for every sort of shipwreck and plane crash. A vest that weighs a little more than 10 pounds, and with pockets that hold all the things that a man may need to survive for months in the South Pacific, is one of the main contributions to air-sea rescue. Since Eddie Rickenbacker's experience expe-rience brought it to public attention, atten-tion, this new business has expanded to bring back safely thousands of flyers downed in the oceans. It now heads up in the new air-sea rescue agency of the army and the navy. The coast guard is acting in a coordinating co-ordinating capacity. The vest, smaller in bulk than a life preserver, illustrates new art, of using incredibly few things to I live. The army uses the vest. The navy uses a pack on which the flyer sits. Fold Cook Kettle. In the vest pockets are 28 items, designed for sea and jungle survival, i These range from a waterproof booklet of information and instructions, instruc-tions, to a hat that looks like a sou'wester. sou'-wester. This hat is soft, and can be worn either side out. One side is I bright yellow, to reflect some heat j and to attract attention. The other is dark green, good camouflage. There is a compass that also is a magnifying glass capable of start- ing a fire. A sheet of asbestos unfolds un-folds into a good-sized cooking kettle. ket-tle. There is a flashlight without bat-I bat-I teries. Squeezing the handle spins a I generator that gives a bright elec- trie light in a couple of seconds, j Assorted safety pins, plus 'chute silk and clothing become household ' mending, tentage or other shelter. I There are gloves, flares, a gaff for I fish, matches, ammunition, gun, gun cover, gun oil and water bag. In all, the 28 items break down into several dozen uses. The navy's sea kit is designed for , life on the water. With it a man can live 14 days, with no rain and no fish and remain healthy. He can go far longer by getting busy with his gear. He makes good paddles by using two broad fins that fasten to his hands with straps. He has a nylon line no bigger than string, but strong as a clothesline. Signaling Mirror. He has a hand-size signaling mirror,- whose flash in the sun on a clear day at the equator is estimated esti-mated to be 8 million candlepower. The army vest also contain this mirror, and there are numerous uses for its great signaling power. It can be aimed to hit the eyes of an aviator flying 10 miles away. The rations, other than water, come in a can which a big fisted man can hide in one hand. These rations are 23 tablets, 2 pieces of chewing gum, 2 multivitamin tablets. tab-lets. Both army and navy have new motor boats, dropped from planes into the sea. The navy's is like nothing noth-ing that ever sailed the seas before, but in it a clever crew probably could navigate from Japan to California, Cali-fornia, with a little luck at fishing. This navy boat is five canvas wrapped packages, which replace the bombs in a bomber's bay, and contain respectively a ten-man rubber boat, with sails, a nine horsepower horse-power engine, fuel, equipment and food. The five packages are roped together, with a chemically treated line that floats, and serves as a net to insure the castaways of getting hold of the gear. The packages are dropped "in train" from 100 feet. Even swimmers swim-mers can assemble this sea going motor boat, once they get a hand on the line anywhere. When the cover of the boat package is unfastened, un-fastened, the boat inflates and pops out automatically. It has the lines of an old fashioned bath tub but, with keel and rudder, will sail into the wind. |