WWII’s First Combat Air Rescue
The helicopter with which Harman
made the first combat rescue,
25 April 1944. (U.S. Air Force)
On this date, the 25th of April in 1944, while the city of Paris was being liberated, and General De Gaulle was busy making his winning speech, there was another important milestone for WWII. This one gave us the first use of a helicopter for a combat air rescue. On the other side of the world four downed airmen were lifted out of the Burma jungle by a Vought-Sikorsky YR-4B helicopter from the U.S. 1st Air Commando Group.
One U.S. pilot and three wounded British Commandos needed to be rescued. They abandoned their plane after being shot down by the Japanese, and they were stranded behind enemy lines near Aberdeen, Burma. USAAF pilot Second Lieutenant Carter Harman was commanded to fly a YH-4A helicopter 500 miles from a base in Lalaghat, India, to rescue them.
Author’s note: I’ve researched this, and I’ve found a discrepancy in that two different helicopter designations were used: Sikorsky’s YR-4B and YH-4A. I read that there were separate rescues for the injured and sick men plus helicopter problems.
At this point in my post, I am going to refer you to an article that talks about Second Lieutenant Carter Harman’s life. For me to summarize what its writer Bryan Swopes had to say about him (and more) would be an injustice. So, please, click on the writer’s name and here: Lalaghat | This Day in Aviation
The rescue was successful, and the four airmen were evacuated. Harman was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery and expertise.
Second Lieutenant Carter Harman, United States Army Air Corps. (U.S. Army)