The Wilmington morning star., 1947-06-01
ARMY OUTLINES
RESCUE SERVICE
Safety Program Includes
Training Of Personnel
In Proficiency

Since the beginning of World
War II, millions of people have
witnessed demonstrations of the
power and destructive ability of
the Army Air Forces. Now, how
ever, with the return of peace, a
new and humane use of the tax.
payers money is being observed
and the emphasis is on service to
civilians as well as military per-
sonnet.
The AAF has instituted a safety
program which includes training
its personnel to the peak of pro-
ficiency. However, in spite OF
pilots and mechanics efficiency,
accidents r inevitable. Here
again, the AAF has come forward
and established the Air Rescue
Service.
The AIRS unit responsible for the
North Carolina area is Air Rescue
Squadron ga" Pope Field, For:
Bragg and 1t. Col. Frank R. Web
ster, Jr. is the squadron's COM
handing officer.
Air Rescue Service is a unit of
the Air Transport Command and
is the AAFs designated unit to
perform all AAF search (air) and
rescue within the continental Unit
ed States and in Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick.
The mission of AIRS is to locate
missing aircraft and bring aid to
survivors with the least possible
delay. In performing this mission,
AIRS utilizes a wide variety of air
craft and equipment. Assigned to
AIRS are LIS Sentinals, C-64 Morse
men, CAT Skytrains, C-82 Packets,
BIS Mitchells, BIZ Flying For
tr~esses. and Sikorsky Helicopters.
In addition to these types of air.
craft, during a search, nearby
Army Air Fields are requested to
furnish all available planes of any
type to aid in the search and they
always cooperate. The Bits are
equipped with lifeboats, complete
with motor and sail, which are
dropped to survivors of water
crashes and ship sinkings. These
boats contain navigation equip
ment and provisiins for ten per-
sons for a fifteen hundred mile
ocean voyage, r self bailing and
will ride a thirty foot sea.
The supplies and equipment, in
stantly available, include mercy
bombs in which food, medical sup
plies, and clothing can be dropped
to isolated persons and the array
of skis, snow shoes, etc. Just as
readily available are jungle sup
plies and collapsable canoes
The personnel of AIRS are high
ly trained in all phases of rescue
work and are On call twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week.
They include pilots, navigators,
mechanics, radio operators,
clerks, and parachute jumping
doctors and all r kept at the
peak Of proficiency by constant
training.
A typical search mission begins
when the controller on duty in the
AIRS control center is alerted by
Army Flight Service or any other
agency knowing of a distressed
aircraft. The controller immedi-
ately instigates a communications
search, which consists of checking
the pilots home base for a possible
change in his flight plan, then
checking all air fields along the
proposed route for a possible
emergency landing. These checks
are made by radio or telephone
and serve to prevent waste Of
money and effort on false alarms.
If the communications search fails
to locate the missing aircraft the
controller alerts all personnel for
immediate aerial search. He then
alerts all State Police along the
route as well as any other .agen-
cies that may be of help. The
crews report to the Operations Of.