1st Expeditionary Rescue Group | |
|---|---|
 US Air Force pararescue personnel perform a hoist extraction of a survivor during an urban operations training exercise | |
| Active | 1943–1946, 1946–1956, 1995–1997, 2015– |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Combat search and rescue |
| Part of | United States Air Forces Central Command |
| Motto(s) | "... These Things We Do, That Others May Live" |
| Equipment | HH-60 Pave Hawk Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules |
| Decorations | Presidential Unit Citation |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Gregory A. Roberts |
| Notable commander | Virgil LO. Zoller |
| Insignia | |
| 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group emblem |  |
| 1st Air Rescue Sq emblem[note 1][1] |  |
| 1st Emergency Rescue Sq emblem |  |
The1st Expeditionary Rescue Group is a provisional unit of theUnited States Air Force assigned toAir Combat Command to activate or inactivate as necessary. It was activated in Southwest Asia in September 2015 to providecombat search and rescue forOperation Inherent Resolve.
Thegroup was first activated duringWorld War II as the1st Emergency Rescue Squadron. After training with theUnited States Navy in Florida, the squadron moved to theMediterranean Theater of Operations, where it flewConsolidated OA-10 Catalinas (and later other aircraft) to performcombat search and rescue missions, earning aDistinguished Unit Citation in August 1944. AfterVE Day, the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated in 1946.
The group was activated later in 1946 as the1st Rescue Squadron and was responsible for air rescue operations in the Caribbean and mid-Atlantic area. In 1952, it expanded to become the1st Air Rescue Group, but was inactivated in 1956 as Air Force operations in the Caribbean were reduced. It was active again in 1995 atPatrick Air Force Base, Florida, where it provided rescue and range support for theEastern Test Range. It was inactivated in 1997, when its component squadrons moved toMoody Air Force Base, Georgia and were reassigned, while the Eastern Test Range support mission was assumed byAir Force Reserve Command.
The mission of the 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group iscombat search and rescue.
The 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group consists of the following units:[2]
Thegroup was first activated as the1st Emergency Rescue Squadron atBoca Raton Army Air Field, Florida on 1 December 1943 with an initialcadre of one officer and four enlisted men. The squadron and the2d Emergency Rescue Squadron, activated two weeks later in California,[3] were the first of their kind in theArmy Air Forces. Twonaval officers were attached to the squadron to perform check flights for the pilots, who had received training on theConsolidated PBY-5A Catalina atNaval Air Station Pensacola andNaval Air Station Jacksonville. The training included water landings onLake Okeechobee and navigation training. After two and a half months of training, the unit departed for overseas assignment.[4] The squadron left for overseas fromCamp Patrick Henry, Virginia,[5] sailing on board theSS William L. Mitchell on 3 March.[6]
Thesquadron arrived at the port ofCasablanca, French Morocco on 12 March and proceeded to the encampment at Camp Don B. Passage. They staged throughSidi Ahmed, Tunisia before arriving at their operational station ofAjaccio, Corsica, France. Meanwhile, crews picked up their Catalinas atPort Lyautey Airfield, French Morocco.[6] The squadron flew its first operational mission from Ajaccio on 10 April. Its first rescue, of acrewmember of aRoyal Air ForceVickers Wellington bomber, occurred a week later.[7]
In May 1944, the squadron began a split operation to increase the area in which it could provide rescue coverage. Headquarters and C Flight remained at Ajaccio, while B Flight left forFoggia Main Airfield and A Flight forGrottaglie Airfield, both in Italy. B Flight was attached to323 Wing of theRoyal Air Force for operations. On 10 May the squadron staged a rescue operation fromVis, an island controlled byYugoslav Partisans in a search for afighter aircraft downed over Yugoslavia. On 20 May. A Flight performed the first rescue flown from Italy, landing a Catalina a few miles off the coast of Albania to pick up the pilot of an RAFSupermarine Spitfire who had been shot down while attacking a GermanQ-Ship. B Flight performed its first rescue, of aConsolidated B-24 Liberator crew of the741st Bombardment Squadron, four days later.[8]
Not onlyAllied fliers were rescued by the squadron. On 14 June, for the first time, C Flight responded to a distress signal received by a fighter control center. Upon arrival at the signal's location, the crew discovered the source of the signal was from twoLuftwaffe fliers. They were retrieved and made the squadron's first capture ofprisoners of war.[9]
By July 1944, B Flight acquired aStinson L-5 Sentinel, which it used for searches of crash sites on land.[10] The squadron was awarded aDistinguished Unit Citation for the period o 17 to 21 August 1944. During this period, with only nine aircraft to cover its area of responsibility, the squadron rescued 21 allied airmen, making open sea landings in hazardous weather conditions and heavy seas.[1]
During the month of October, A Flight temporarily operated from aFrench naval base. The squadron also added a boat crew to its strength, but this unit was reassigned a month later.[11][12]
In late December 1944, the squadron and C Flight moved to Foggia.[1] The move to Foggia also brought the assignment ofBoeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, transferred from units inFifteenth Air Force.[13] One month later, most of A and C Flights were detached from the squadron for shipment to theChina-Burma-India Theater as the cadre for the7th Emergency Rescue Squadron, which was being organized atAgartala. With these flights went the squadron's B-17s, although once the 1st was reorganized it again flew the B-17. This reduced the squadron to (new) A Flight atFalconara Airfield and B Flight with the squadron headquarters at Foggia.[14][15]
The last combat rescue performed by the squadron, on 1 May 1945, was also the only one performed by dropping alifeboat from a B-17 Dumbo. Fighting in Italy ended the following day. AfterVE Day, A Flight joined the squadron headquarters at Foggia.[16] On 25 May 1945, the squadron left the Mediterranean, assembling atKeesler Field, Mississippi in late June. The squadron spent the next year at Keesler before inactivating in June 1946.[1]
The squadron was activated again as the1st Rescue Squadron atHoward Field,Panama Canal Zone in November 1946 and assumed responsibility forsearch and rescue in the Caribbean.[1]
The squadron moved toMacDill Air Force Base, Florida in September 1949 and was assigned toAir Rescue Service.[1] Despite the move, the squadron's area of responsibility (the Caribbean and eastward in the mid-Atlantic toBermuda) remained the same.[17] At MacDill the squadron became the1st Air Rescue Squadron.[1] A Flight was located with the squadron until early 1951, when its personnel were distributed to other Air Rescue Service units.[18]
In 1951 the squadron headquarters returned to the Canal Zone, moving toAlbrook Air Force Base,[1] where its B Flight was already located.[19] In November 1952 it expanded into the1st Air Rescue Group. Its three flights, were replaced by squadrons. A and B Flights, both located at Albrook with groupheadquarters, became the 26th and 27th Air Rescue Squadrons, C Flight atRamey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico, became the 28th Air Rescue Squadron, and D Flight atKindley Air Force Base, Bermuda became the 29th Air Rescue Squadron.[20] Less than a year later, in September 1953, the second rescue squadron at Albrook was inactivated. As US operations in the Caribbean were reduced, the group and its remaining squadrons inactivated in December 1956.[1]
In June 1995, the group, now designated the1st Rescue Group, was activated atPatrick Air Force Base, Florida as the command element for the41st Rescue Squadron, flyingSikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters and the71st Rescue Squadrons, flyingLockheed HC-130 Hercules tankers, although the group was not manned until the middle of July.[21] The squadrons had previously reported to the1st Operations Group, stationed atLangley Air Force Base, Virginia.[1][22][23]
The group provided rescue, recovery and medical evacuation capability forSpace Shuttle launches. It also performed range safety and surveillance for launches on theEastern Test Range by government and commercial operators.[24] While stationed at Patrick, the group deployed airmen to Southwest Asia. Five members of the group were among those killed in theKhobar Towers bombing.[25]
In April 1997, the group's two flying squadrons moved toMoody Air Force Base, Georgia, where they were reassigned to the347th Operations Group.[22][23]Air Combat Command andAir Force Reserve Command had been transitioning the Eastern Test Range support mission to the reserve301st Rescue Squadron.[24] The group remained behind at Patrick until September 1997, when it was inactivated, as the remaining rescue mission at Patrick was transferred to the reserve920th Rescue Wing.[1]
The group was converted to provisional status as the1st Expeditionary Rescue Group and assigned toAir Combat Command to activate or inactivate as needed in January 2015.[1] In September, the group was activated to supportOperation Inherent Resolve, military operations againstISIL. The need for a rescue capability as part of Inherent Resolve was highlighted by the failure to recoverMuath al-Kasasbeh, aRoyal Jordanian Air Force pilot, who was captured by ISIL, then tortured and barbarously killed after hisfighter crashed in Syria.[2] The US Navy's Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron FIVE (HSC-5) deployed with 1st ERQG during 2016 in support of OIR during their deployment with Carrier Air Wing SEVEN (CVW-7).
| Award streamer | Award | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Distinguished Unit Citation | 17–21 August 1944 | 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron, Mediterranean Theater of Operations[1] |
| Campaign Streamer | Campaign | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Rome-Arno | 12 March 1944 – 9 September 1944 | 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron[1] |
| Southern France | 15 August 1944 – 14 September 1944 | 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron[1] |
| North Apennines | 10 September 1944 – 4 April 1945 | 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron[1] |
| Po Valley | 3 April 1945 – 8 May 1945 | 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron[1] |
| Rhineland | 15 September 1944 – 21 March 1945 | 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron[1] |
| Air Combat, EAME Theater | 12 March 1944 – 11 May 1945 | 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron[1] |
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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