RAF Mildenhall air assets aid in rescue operation

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Austin M. May
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  A KC-135 crew from the 100th Air Refueling Wing assisted in a rescue operation off the coast of Ireland June 26.

A total of five aircraft from the United States and England worked together to pluck a man complaining of abdominal pains from a ship in the Atlantic Ocean and transport him to a medical facility in Shannon, Ireland.

Two HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters from the 56th Rescue Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, transported the sick man from the container ship "Pascha," refueling from a 352nd Special Operations Group MC-130P Combat Shadow. The Combat Shadow topped off twice from the 100th ARW tanker, which ensured none of the aircraft involved had to land for fuel.

The helicopters weren't able to carry enough fuel to reach the ship and return to land, and the MC-130P couldn't carry the fuel required to top off the helos as often as needed and make it back to base. The KC-135 provided fuel to the MC-130P as needed, staying airborne for more than nine hours to ensure the safe, successful completion of the rescue operation.

"A lot of planners, both in the SOG and in the ARW, put in a lot of time overnight - I don't think they went home at all - to come up with a plan," said Capt. Steve Harler, 351st Air Refueling Squadron aircraft commander. "We flew their plan and everything went flawlessly."

The captain said for him, the teamwork aspect of the mission was the best part of the whole thing.

"The helos couldn't have done it without the SOG refueler, the SOG refueler couldn't have done it without our gas, and I'm not sure any of us would have been able to find the ship out there without the help of the British Nimrod," he added. The Royal Air Force Nimrod is an anti-sub, anti-surface-warfare and search-and-rescue aircraft.

Master Sgt. Bill Fitch, 351st ARS chief boom operator, said the out-of-the-ordinary mission left him with a sense of accomplishment different from that of his day-to-day job.
"It was very rewarding," he said. "It's definitely exciting to do something real-world and get away from the training mission to potentially do something that will impact and save someone's life."