Air-sea rescue
[4] Moreover, the knowledge that such operations are being carried out greatly enhanced the morale of the combat aircrew faced not only with the expected hostile reaction of the enemy but with the possible danger of aircraft malfunction during long overwater flights.
Amid World War II, a major innovation was introduced in the form of the helicopter, which provided hover capabilities that were revolutionary for air-sea rescue.
Over the following decades, more capable rotorcraft, such as the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King and Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin, made longer range operations possible, with parallel advances in equipment improving both the speed and the level of help that air-sea rescue platforms could provide.
By the start of the twenty-first century, numerous civilian organizations have involved themselves in providing air-sea rescue services, in some circumstances taking over this function from incumbent military operators.
Initial air-sea rescue operations were performed either by flying boats or floatplanes; these were the pioneering approach used to pick up aviators or sailors who were has come into difficulties in the water.
Although the launches and pinnaces were equipped for rescue purposes, they were hindered in this role by the fact that they were hard pressed to make 10 knots (19 kilometres per hour)[14] and were in a bad state of disrepair following their war service.
Lawrence had experience using this type of vessel, having assisted with the 1929 Schneider Trophy race while at the helm of a Biscayne Baby, a fast boat when the temperamental engines were running.
This was the main high speed launch class ship used during the Second World War and was instrumental in the rescue of Allied aircrew from the sea after they were shot down.
[19] A group of 24 British Vickers Wellington medium bombers were frustrated by low clouds and fog in their mission to bomb Wilhelmshaven, and they turned for home.
The aircraft each carried an inflatable rubber raft which would help the airmen avoid hypothermia from continued immersion in the cold water, and increase the time available for rescue.
[19] In July 1940, a white-painted He 59 operating near Deal, Kent was shot down and the crew taken captive because it was sharing the air with 12 Bf 109 fighters and because the British were wary of Luftwaffe aircraft dropping spies and saboteurs.
[19] The German pilot's log showed that he had noted the position and direction of British convoys—British officials determined that this constituted military reconnaissance, not rescue work.
Winston Churchill later wrote "We did not recognise this means of rescuing enemy pilots who had been shot down in action, in order that they might come and bomb our civil population again.
"[22] Germany protested against this order on the grounds that rescue aircraft were part of the Geneva Convention agreement stipulating that belligerents must respect each other's "mobile sanitary formations" such as field ambulances and hospital ships.
The highly visible buoy-type floats held emergency equipment including food, water, blankets and dry clothing, and they attracted distressed airmen from both sides of the war.
[23] The British developed the first air-dropped lifeboat; a 32-foot (10 m) wooden canoe-shaped boat designed in 1943 by Uffa Fox was to be dropped by RAF Avro Lancaster heavy bombers for the rescue of aircrew downed in the Channel.
[30] Beginning in November 1943, during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, American submarines were tasked with the rescue of U.S. Navy and Marine airmen downed during aircraft carrier attack operations.
[31] Dumbo aircraft, converted land-based heavy bombers named after Walt Disney's animated flying elephant,[5] were sent aloft in the Pacific War to patrol likely areas where American airmen might ditch.
At the final bombing mission on August 14, 1945, 9 land-based Dumbos and 21 flying boats covered a surface and sub-surface force of 14 submarines and 5 rescue ships.
[34] USCG Commander William J. Kossler witnessed a helicopter demonstration flight by Igor Sikorsky, flying the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300,[35] equipped with pontoons for water landings and at once saw the advantages of helicopter-equipped search and rescue squadrons.
[34] The first hoist lift rescue occurred on 29 November 1945, when a barge ran aground at Penfield Reef, off Fairfield, Connecticut, during heavy weather, very near to the Sikorsky facility in Bridgeport.
[40] Helicopters became frequently used, due to a number of advantages; they could fly in rougher weather than fixed-wing aircraft and could deliver injured passengers directly to hospitals or other emergency facilities.
Disadvantages include the loud noise causing difficulties in communicating with the survivors and the strong downdraft that the hovering helicopter creates which increases wind chill danger for already-soaked and hypothermic patients.
[42] The SB-17 began serving in Korea, but dropped only a few lifeboats to save several lives before being phased out in late 1951—there were enough SB-29 Super Dumbos and Grumman SA-16A Albatross flying boats to satisfy the need.
The helicopter most closely associated with long-range U.S. air-sea rescue operations in Southeast Asia was the Sikorsky S-61R, called the "Pelican" or "Jolly Green Giant", a variation of the SH-3 Sea King.
First acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1961 for anti-submarine warfare, variants of the helicopter were quickly utilized for many duties including rescue, and were operated as well by the United States Air Force (USAF) which developed an in-flight refueling system.
SAR helicopters were assigned search and rescue patrols; both the Sea King and Westland Wessex rotorcraft repeatedly succeeded in plucked airmen from the icy waters.
The Ejercito Argentino helicopters, in particular UH-1H, rescued several downed pilots as well, most notably Argentine Naval Aviation Lt Arca by Capt Jorge Svendsen[51] who was decorated with the Valour in Combat Medal[52] for this action.
[67] The NYPD Aviation Unit operates night vision-equipped Bell 412 helicopters which fly to rescue locations carrying two pilots, one crew chief and two scuba divers.
NYPD motor lifeboats from the Harbor Unit respond as well, meeting the helicopter at the incident site to pick up non-critically injured survivors who don't require air evacuation.
