World War II Training as the first squadron of its kind The
group was first activated as the
1st Emergency Rescue Squadron at
Boca Raton Army Air Field, Florida on 1 December 1943 with an initial
cadre of one officer and four enlisted men. The squadron and the
2d Emergency Rescue Squadron, activated two weeks later in California, were the first of their kind in the
Army Air Forces. Two
naval officers were attached to the squadron to perform check flights for the pilots, who had received training on the
Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina at
Naval Air Station Pensacola and
Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The training included water landings on
Lake Okeechobee and navigation training. After two and a half months of training, the unit departed for overseas assignment. The squadron left for overseas from
Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, sailing on board the on 3 March.
Operations in the Mediterranean The
squadron arrived at the port of
Casablanca, French Morocco on 12 March and proceeded to the encampment at Camp Don B. Passage. They staged through
Sidi Ahmed, Tunisia before arriving at their operational station of
Ajaccio, Corsica, France. Meanwhile, crews picked up their Catalinas at
Port Lyautey Airfield, French Morocco. 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 for
Foggia Main Airfield and A Flight for
Grottaglie Airfield, both in Italy. B Flight was attached to
323 Wing of the
Royal Air Force for operations. On 10 May the squadron staged a rescue operation from
Vis, an island controlled by
Yugoslav Partisans in a search for a
fighter 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 RAF
Supermarine Spitfire who had been shot down while attacking a German
Q-Ship. B Flight performed its first rescue, of a
Consolidated B-24 Liberator crew of the
741st Bombardment Squadron, four days later. Not only
Allied 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 two
Luftwaffe fliers. They were retrieved and made the squadron's first capture of
prisoners of war. By July 1944, B Flight acquired a
Stinson L-5 Sentinel, which it used for searches of crash sites on land. The squadron was awarded a
Distinguished 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. In late December 1944, the squadron and C Flight moved to Foggia. One month later, most of A and C Flights were detached from the squadron for shipment to the
China-Burma-India Theater as the cadre for the
7th Emergency Rescue Squadron, which was being organized at
Agartala. 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 at
Falconara Airfield and B Flight with the squadron headquarters at Foggia.
Return to the United States The last combat rescue performed by the squadron, on 1 May 1945, was also the only one performed by dropping a
lifeboat from a B-17 Dumbo. Fighting in Italy ended the following day. After
VE Day, A Flight joined the squadron headquarters at Foggia. On 25 May 1945, the squadron left the Mediterranean, assembling at
Keesler Field, Mississippi in late June. The squadron spent the next year at Keesler before inactivating in June 1946. At MacDill the squadron became the
1st Air Rescue Squadron. In 1951 the squadron headquarters returned to the Canal Zone, moving to
Albrook Air Force Base, In November 1952 it expanded into the
1st Air Rescue Group. Its three flights, were replaced by squadrons. A and B Flights, both located at Albrook with group
headquarters, became the 26th and 27th Air Rescue Squadrons, C Flight at
Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico, became the 28th Air Rescue Squadron, and D Flight at
Kindley Air Force Base, Bermuda became the 29th Air Rescue Squadron. 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. The squadrons had previously reported to the
1st Operations Group, stationed at
Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. The group provided rescue, recovery and medical evacuation capability for
Space Shuttle launches. It also performed range safety and surveillance for launches on the
Eastern Test Range by government and commercial operators. While stationed at Patrick, the group deployed airmen to Southwest Asia. Five members of the group were among those killed in the
Khobar Towers bombing. In April 1997, the group's two flying squadrons moved to
Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, where they were reassigned to the
347th Operations Group.
Air Combat Command and
Air Force Reserve Command had been transitioning the Eastern Test Range support mission to the reserve
301st Rescue Squadron. The group remained behind at Patrick until September 1997, when it was inactivated, as the remaining rescue mission at Patrick was transferred to the reserve
920th Rescue Wing.
Expeditionary operations The group was converted to provisional status as the
1st Expeditionary Rescue Group and assigned to
Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate as needed in January 2015. In September, the group was activated to support
Operation Inherent Resolve, the military operation to degrade
ISIL. The need for a rescue capability as part of Inherent Resolve was highlighted by the failure to recover
Muath al-Kasasbeh, a
Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot, who was captured by ISIL, then tortured and barbarously killed after his
fighter crashed in Syria. The US Navy's Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Five (
HSC-5) deployed with the group during 2016 during their deployment with
Carrier Air Wing 7 (CVW-7). == Lineage ==