The Long Blue Line (Summer 2020)

The fi rst combat rescue involving a helicopter
when four survivors of a medevac aircraft hid for
three days in the Burmese jungle and the USAF
pilot had to make four trips to bring each man to
safety.”
“Commander Frank Erickson had a vision. If that
helicopter had a hoist, these men could have
been lifted straight from the crash site. Erickson
conceived and started verbally sketching a
rescue hoist to two Chiefs, Oliver Berry and
George "Red" Lubben. You could call them the
two magicians who transformed his words into
hardware. That was the birth of the rescue hoist.”
Sikorsky was part of the team that worked on the
next problem: a sling or boatswain’s chair in which
survivors would be hoisted. A number of ideas were
tried until late summer when the team cut a Stokes
litter in half and added cork floats at the top of the
chicken wire basket. It could float on the water or
be lowered to land. Those were the beginnings of
what would become daring rescues by Air Force
and Coast Guard pilots in Vietnam.
One of Sergei’s most memorable experiences during
his service time was recently acknowledged with the
Winged-S Sikorsky Rescue Award. Initiated in 1950,
the Winged-S Rescue Award carries the spirit and
vision of aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky, and honors
individuals who directly perform a lifesaving rescue
flying a Sikorsky helicopter.
In December 1945, the demobilization from World
War II was underway, but as a junior member of
the Coast Guard, single and with no family at the
time, Sergei was lower in the points system used to
determine who got to go home. He was still in the
Service, a couple of days before Christmas Eve.
Local police called Floyd Bennett Field. Three young
brothers had gone duck hunting around Jamaica
Bay in NY, near the station.
In his own words, this is what happened next:
“There were about a dozen small islands in the
bay and these three boys were two days overdue
to return from their duck hunt. We took a helicopter
and I was the mechanic. After 15-20 minutes of
searching island by island, we spotted a tiny, half
destroyed tent and two little boys jumping up and
down.
We landed and I made my way through the
tall grasses and cat o’ nine tails. It was rather
Sergei Sikorsky stands with his father, Igor
Sikorsky, a pioneer in both helicopters and
fi xed-wing aircraft.
THE LONG BLUE LINE SUMMER 2020
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