conducted the first combat S&R mission in his aircraft during the
First World War. The
First World War was the background for the development of early combat search and rescue doctrine, especially in the more fluid theaters of war in the
Balkans and the
Middle East. In the opening fluid stages of the
First World War the
Royal Navy Air Service Armoured Car Section was formed with armed and armoured touring cars to find and pick up aircrew who had been forced down. When trench warfare made this impossible, the cars were transferred to other theatres, most notably the Middle East. In 1915, during the First World War, Squadron Commander
Richard Bell-Davies of the British
Royal Naval Air Service performed the first combat search and rescue by aircraft in history. He used his single-seat aeroplane to rescue his wingman who had been shot down in Bulgaria. His
Victoria Cross citation included "Squadron-Commander Davies descended at a safe distance from the burning machine, took up Sub-Lieutenant Smylie, in spite of the near approach of a party of the enemy, and returned to the aerodrome, a feat of airmanship that can seldom have been equalled for skill and gallantry." Like the search and rescue efforts of the future, Davies' action sprang from the fervent desire to keep a compatriot from capture or death at the hands of the enemy. During the
Mesopotamian campaign, British and other Commonwealth forces began to use similar tactics on a larger scale. Shot down aviators in hostile
Bedouin territory were often located by search parties in the air and rescued. Other nations also contributed to the development of modern-day CSAR. During
World War II, the
Luftwaffe (
Seenotdienst organization) operated armed camouflaged air-sea rescue aircraft. In the
First Indochina War, French physician, pilot and parachutist
Valérie André pioneered MEDEVAC tactics, a precursor to what we know as CSAR today, by flying helicopters into combat zones to retrieve or sometimes treat, injured soldiers. In August 1943, a US wing flight surgeon, Lt. Col.
Don Flickinger, and two combat surgical technicians, Sgt. Richard S. Passey and Cpl. William G. MacKenzie, parachuted from search planes in the Naga area of Burma to assist and care for the injured. At the same time, a ground team was sent to their location and all twenty walked to safety. Although parachute rescues were not officially authorized at the time, this is considered by
PJs to be the birth of
United States Air Force Pararescue. Eric Sevareid said of his rescuers: "Gallant is a precious word: they deserve it". A few short months later, Capt. Porter was killed on a rescue mission when his B-25 was shot down. refueling during the
Vietnam War. During the
Vietnam War the costly
rescue of Bat 21 led the US military to find a new approach to high-threat search and rescue. They recognized that if a SAR mission was predestined to fail, it should not be attempted and other options such as special operations, diversionary tactics and other creative approaches tailored to the situation had to be considered. Recognizing the need for an aircraft that could deliver better
close air support, the US Air Force introduced the
A-7 Corsair, originally a carrier-based
Navy light attack aircraft, to replace the Air Force's
A-1 Skyraiders, an aircraft that also was originally a carrier-based naval attack bomber. As a result of the Vietnam CSAR experience, the US military also improved the night capability of helicopters and area denial munitions. During the Vietnam War, U.S. SAR forces saved 3,883 lives at the cost of 71 rescuers and 45 aircraft. ==Notable missions==