Pilot recovery and rescue planning

The wartime Walrus carried out reconnaissance and occasional strikes, but pilot recovery became one of its most important jobs. One aircraft landed on a carrier after retrieving a pilot shot down during an attack on Japanese positions in the Nicobar Islands. Its endurance allowed rescue aircraft to wait near planned ditching areas, land on the water, collect aircrew, and depart. Planners could even advise pilots which areas offered the best chance of rapid recovery if they could not reach their carrier. When heavy fire kept a Walrus from reaching endangered aircrew, Admiral Philip Vian took a carrier group toward them, showing the operational priority placed on rescue.