USAF ARRS / RESCUE PEDRO S.E.A / VIETNAM WAR PATCH

USAF ARRS / Rescue Pedro S.E.A (Southeast Asia) / Vietnam War Era

The Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service peacetime force was not equipped, trained, nor structured to meet the demands of war in Southeast Asia in the early 1960s. As lessons were learned, the service's rescue capability continued to increase. During the Vietnam War, ARRS crews would save 4,120 people, with 2,780 of them in combat situations.

At the outset of the Vietnam War, the primary rescue helicopter in the USAF inventory was the HH-43B "Huskie" manufactured by Kaman Aircraft. A fire fighting and enhanced crash rescue capability was added by Kaman as an incentive for selection of the HH-43 by USAF acquisition officials. But the HH-43 was slow, short-ranged and unarmed, having been procured primarily for the local base recovery (LBR) mission at air force bases in the United States and at other air bases overseas. The LBR concept also included a fire suppression role, with an external foam bottle and firefighters as part of the flight crew.

During June 1961, the HH-43 helicopters, crews, and support personnel of the various major commands were reassigned from their respective home bases and host wings to the Air Rescue Service in an attempt to unify their command structure. Standardized training and mission concepts were also implemented.

As the Vietnam War escalated, HH-43 rescue detachments from bases in the continental United States (CONUS) were deployed to air bases in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia (SEA) with the new nickname “Pedro.” The HH-43B's combat radius of only 75 miles was increased with added fuel drums strapped in the cabin. The HH-43B was eventually replaced with the armored HH-43F model for use in an Area Crew Recovery (ACR) mission role, the HH-43F also possessing additional internal fuel tanks for extended range. The HH-43F units were staffed with USAF Pararescue personnel as part of the combat recovery team and throughout the war, both HH-43B and HH-43F helicopters flew deep into North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. HH-43s accounted for more lives saved than any other rescue helicopter in the Vietnam War.

In July 1965, ARS received its first CH-3C, an aircraft considered an adequate aircrew rescue vehicle. The HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" and HH-53B/C "Super Jolly Green Giant" helicopters were manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. With the introduction of the Lockheed HC-130N/P, an air-refuelable HH-3E in June 1967 and the delivery of the air-refuelable HH-53B (the first helicopter specifically designed for CSAR operations) later that year (the latter two aircraft both being dual-engined helicopters), the now-renamed Military Airlift Command (MAC) and ARRS considered that they finally had the right force structure for combat rescue operations in Vietnam.

Got information about this item? Contact me below (comments) with your email address and I´ll get back to you ASAP! Thank you!