january 2016 AH 39AIRCRAFT QUICKLY BECAME WEAPONS
OF WAR, BUT LESS EXPECTED WAS
THEIR ROLE AS RESCUERS.
Today it seems inevitable that aircraft—particularly
helicopters—should be used as angels of mercy, to pluck
the endangered from peril in ways that no other vehicle can. But it certainly wasn’t
part of their job description originally. A few aerial rescues were performed during
World War I almost as afterthoughts, and during the 1930s the U.S. Coast Guard devel-
oped amphibious aerial rescue techniques. It took the next world war, however, to
create aircraft and procedures truly devoted to aerial rescue.
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wings have extended the aerial-rescue operating theater to distances, altitudes and
environmental conditions that were until recently unimaginable. And, as always,
bravery has extended them even farther.all aboard! Members
of a U.S. Air Force combat
control team sprint for Lt.
Col. Joe Jackson‘s C-123
amid the carnage of Kham
Duc Special Forces camp,
in a Keith Ferris painting.