THE “FIRST AIR COMMANDOS” WERE THE FIRST MILITARY UNIT TO OPERATE HELICOPTERS IN COMBAT

THE “FIRST AIR COMMANDOS” WERE THE FIRST MILITARY UNIT TO OPERATE HELICOPTERS IN COMBAT: (1ST AIR COMMANDOS)

Two Air Commando pilots and ground crewmen are photographed in front of one of the six Sikorsky R-4B helicopters that made up the Air Commando’s 10th Air Jungle Rescue Detachment, somewhere in Burma. The unit’s first aerial combat rescue missions took place on the 22nd and 23rd of April, 1942, when Lieutenant Carter Harman rescued four occupants of a downed, light observation aircraft from Japanese held territory.