Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service " The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service ( RAFMRS ) provides land rescue over the mountain areas of the United Kingdom . Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Teams ( MRTs ) were first organised during World War II to rescue aircrew from the large number of aircraft crashes then occurring on high ground . The practice at the time was to organise ad - hoc rescue parties from station medical sections and other ground personnel . Experience demonstrated that this could be dangerous . 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 . Snow and high winds , sometimes in excess of , are possible any month of the year . Rescue operations in these conditions require personnel with specialized mountaineering training and equipment . The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Teams are credited with some of the earliest development of mountain rescue techniques and teams in the United Kingdom and overseas . Despite potential team reductions under the current UK Coalition Government ( 2011 ) , RAFMRS teams continue to contribute to life - saving and mountain safety . The MRS is now part of RAF Search and Rescue ( SARF ) Foundation . RAF policy from the very early days of 1918 was for the station medical officer to attend all aircraft crashes as , initially at least , the low air speeds meant that many crashes were survivable and first aid would be given before the crews were moved either into Station Sick Quarters or a hospital . A single RAF medical officer , Flight Lieutenant George Desmond Graham ( also known as " Doc " Graham ) , is credited with pressurising the Air Ministry into forming the RAF MRS . Graham was one of several RAF medical doctors who organized teams at RAF Llandwrog in North Wales in 1943 , at RAF Millom ( southern Lake District ) , and at Harpur Hill ( Peak District ) , where Flt Lt ( later Air Commodore ) David Crichton performed a similar role . Graham ' s team rescued dozens of allied airmen from Snowdonia before Graham was posted to Burma , where he took part in an early pararescue 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 . Shortly after the war the fledgling service was reorganized and retrained along professional grounds through an influx of trained mountaineers , including Sgt Hans Pick , a former Austrian Army Alpine instructor and Sergeant J R " Johnny " Lees , whose involvement with the service is recounted by author and mountain guide Gwen Moffat in her 1964 book about the early days of the service . Other notable early team leaders include Squadron Leader David Dattner OBE , Colin Pibworth , and John Hinde . Early history . A mountain rescue operation is known as a " call - out . " Particularly noteworthy call - outs include the extended search for the remains of the crew of Avro Lancaster TX 264 of No . 120 Squadron RAF , which crashed into Scotland ' s Beinn Eighe on 1951 - 03 - 14 . 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 specialized personnel , better training , and proper equipment . Less than a year later , an Aer Lingus Douglas Dakota crashed into a mountain near Porthmadog in Snowdonia with 23 people on board , and RAFMRS personnel recovered the remains . Over the 1950s , the service became more professional and better coordinated with civilian authorities . Many noteworthy civilian volunteer mountain rescue teams in the UK began as RAFMRS " sub - units . " 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 . Both crashes had a sense of Cold War espionage , involving secret nuclear papers and equipment . To this day the service ' s historians feel they lack all the details . Other overseas teams were based in Aden , Libya , Yemen , Dubai , Oman and Hong Kong . The middle eastern teams were characterized as " desert rescue , " and British Army personnel were sometimes involved . The RAF allowed female RAFMRS team members for the first time in 1994 , when the then Inspector of Land Rescue , Squadron Leader Brian Canfer , tired of having to rationalize excluding women to a UK parliamentary all - party group , agreed to a trial of female volunteers . 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 . Perhaps the most famous call - out of all was for the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie , Scotland in 1988 , also known as the Lockerbie Air Disaster . This terrorist incident resulted in the scattering of human remains over a wide swath of southern Scotland . The call - out involved four of the six teams then in existence and " stretched the personnel involved to the limits " . Training . All RAF MRT members are volunteers . For reasons lost to history , RAFMRS team members are known as " M . R . troops " or just " troops . " Traditionally , team membership is reserved for enlisted men and women ; although officers may serve as either officers i / c ( in charge ) or as a Troop , this is not at all the same thing as being the team leader . That position is reserved for a senior NCO , generally a seasoned veteran . For some , service on a team is a primary duty , and they are known as the Permanent Staff or PS . For others , it is a part - time activity in addition to their normal RAF Trade or branch for which they are granted relief from other normal secondary duties , such as guard duty . Most training is done " on the hill " , the term for mountaineering training days . Only a minority pass the three - week trial period required to join . Once accepted , new troops are considered " novices . " A " badge test " after the first year is the mark of a trained troop , and permits the wearing of the mountain rescue badge on the right fore - sleeve of dress uniform , one of only two special service badges recognized for RAF enlisted men , the other being the badge of a qualified marksman . Walking , mountain navigation , high - angle rescue techniques , rock climbing , and winter mountaineering are the primary training activities , which are carried out in all weathers . A minority of troops practice fell running , a traditional country sport in northern England , and excellent training . A regular troop can expect to spend upwards of a hundred days a year on the hill , which training makes the most seasoned RAFMRS personnel some of the fittest mountaineers in the world . Many Himalayan expeditions have been mounted , or troops and ex - troops have participated in other organizations ' expeditions . In 1970 , ex RAF Kinloss troop Ian Clough died when a serac collapsed on him while descending Annapurna on an expedition with Chris Bonington . Other sites for expeditions have included Alaska ' s Denali , Mt . Everest , and Antarctica , where troops have volunteered for British Antarctic Survey duties . Each year for several decades , the service has run separate summer and winter mountaineering courses . The focus is on training lead climbers . USAF pararescue personnel from American air bases in England generally attend . A special course is held when needed every few years to train team leaders . Current organization and deployment . After a recent consolidation , the RAFMRS today comprises four teams , based at RAF Valley in North Wales , RAF Leuchars and RAF Kinloss ( now called RAF Lossiemouth MRT ) in Scotland , and RAF Leeming in England . There is now a central headquarters administration , previously lacking , associated with the MRT at RAF Valley . Helicopter operations , frequently used in mountain rescue , are conducted in cooperation with No . 202 Squadron RAF and No . 22 Squadron RAF . These two squadrons , with the four remaining MRTs and headquarters , and the Rescue Coordination Centre at RAF Kinloss , comprise RAF Search and Rescue . HRH Prince William , Duke of Cambridge , currently a member of RAF Search and Rescue at RAF Valley , spent two weeks working with RAF Mountain Rescue in 2005 , and Buckingham Palace cites this as background to his later decision to become the Patron of Mountain Rescue England and Wales . In a recent UK Government defence review , the MRT at RAF Kinloss was threatened with closure . However the MRT remains at the Kinloss Barracks and has been renamed RAF Lossiemouth MRT and as such will draw staff from the nearby RAF station . Awards and decorations . The following major UK Forces decorations have been awarded to past and serving members of the RAFMRS : George Medal ( The UK ' s most important award for non - combat heroism ) : Officer of the Order of the British Empire Flt Lt David Dattner 1954 Member of the Order of the British Empire : British Empire Medal : Queen ' s Commendation for Bravery :