Royal Air Force (RAF) mountain rescue teams (MRTs) were first organised during World War II to rescue aircrew from the large number of military aircraft crashes then occurring due to navigational errors in conjunction with bad weather and resulting poor visibility when flying in the vicinity of high ground.

The practice at the time was to organise ad-hoc rescue parties from station medical sections and other ground personnel.

While the mountains of the United Kingdom are not very tall, they contain much formerly glaciated terrain with steep cliffs, talus slopes, high peaks, and cirque basins; and generally experience a sub-Arctic climate at relatively low altitudes.

Graham's team rescued dozens of allied airmen from Snowdonia, before Graham was posted to Burma, where he took part in an early para-rescue operation (strikingly similar to one generally credited as the beginning of United States Air Force Pararescue), saving the life of a Royal Canadian Air Force navigator, Flying Officer W Prosser.

Recovering all the remains took several months, and led to public criticism of the fledgling service from mountaineering groups, which helped prod the RAF to provide specialised personnel, better training, and proper equipment.

Less than a year later, an Aer Lingus Douglas DC-3 crashed into a mountain near Porthmadog in Snowdonia with 23 people on board, and RAFMRS personnel recovered the remains.

Two air crashes high in the mountains of Turkey during the 1950s provided call-outs for the first of several overseas teams of the RAFMRS, based at RAF Nicosia in Cyprus.

Advice from the Dutch fire service at the time was that they be accepted, but on utterly equal terms regarding physical fitness and mountaineering requirements.

Since their formation, the teams have rescued thousands of civilian walkers and climbers, and responded to hundreds of aircraft crashes.

In 2015, the helicopter squadrons were disbanded, and their search and rescue role assigned to the Bristow Group, a private corporation.

The position of Team Leader is reserved for a senior non-commissioned officer (SNCO), generally a seasoned veteran.

In 1970, ex RAF Kinloss troop Ian Clough died when a serac collapsed on him while descending Annapurna on an expedition with Chris Bonington.

[5] Other sites for expeditions have included Alaska's Denali, the first RAF single service Everest expedition when Chief Technician ‘Dan’ Carroll and Corporal ‘Rusty’ Bale complete an ascent of Mount Everest in 2001, and also Antarctica, where troops have volunteered for British Antarctic Survey duties.