Parascuba and Helicopter Deployment--the Ultimate in Solo Diving

[John C. Ratliff]

Thanks for sharing John. Impressive life that you had

Freewillow, thank you. We each have our challenges.

For solo diving, one of the more interesting aspects of my USAF career was helicopter deployments. When a PJ deploys out of a helicopter, it is usually a solo event. The helicopter is there to support, but lots of time there is no one else who can go into the water from that chopper. I have crewed three different helicopters where I was required to deploy into the water on either training missions of for actual missions. The first was the HH-43B Huskie helicopter.



Here is part of a letter I wrote home about the mission, which I call "T Sam Sam" in my manuscript, Between Air and Water, the Memoir of an USAF Pararescueman":

March 17, 1969


Dear Mom, Dad, Skip, Bill & Ken:


In my last letter, I told of our water training that we conducted a week ago last Thursday. Thursday last, on a mission we would rather wouldn't happen, we tested our procedures and found them very effective. It was stormy on the 13th of March when we received the scramble call. A T-33 jet flying from Kwanju had called into Kwanju with engine troubles. We scrambled with the fire suppression kit and orbited near the runway. A storm just off the end of the runway put visibility down to zero, with some icing. The ROKAF T-33 never landed, and Kunsan AB was unable to establish radar or radio contact. We landed, I got my skin diving gear, then went out for a search. After 15 minutes we found the victims life raft and helmets. No sign of life was observed. We landed in a mud flat, where the pilots and flight engineer (FE) put on exposure suits and I put on diving equipment. Then we went out for the recovery. The rest is in the rough draft statement I wrote for the ROKAF Accident Investigation Board...

In these cases, a swimmer/diver needs to be completely independent and solo. While this was not diving, it was swimming and it was solo. We were equipped to do scuba if necessary, but in this case it was recovering two Koreas pilots who had been ejected through the canopy of their T-33 jet when it crashed into the Yellow Sea.

Here is an example of a training mission in the Columbia River. I want to emphasize that we were doing this decades before the U.S. Coast Guard had their Rescue Swimmer program.


This is me and Pararescueman John Pierson being picked up out of the Columbia River during training with the HH-34 helicopter.

I guess what I'm saying in a solo diving forum is that with training, solo diving and swimming is not all that hazardous. You are in the water, alone but with great life support gear (scuba, wet suit or dry suit), and everything you need to enjoy entering this world. Helicopter deployment is not for everyone, but with selection and training, these things can happen without much hazard.

I'll post a link, and perhaps more information, on the mission that led directly to the U.S. Coast Guard deciding to implement a Rescue Swimmer program. It was a joint U.S. Coast Guard/USAF Pararescue mission that led to this decision.

SeaRat

 

[Bubblesong]

will you be publishing your experiences in a book, since you mentioned manuscript. I googled but could not find that title. Both my kids are trying ROTC Airfirce in college, (engineering) but we don't hear about the action adventure type training.
It says You have not lost pj people in the water, the ground is more hazardous to para rescue.

 

[Got2Go]

This thread is full of awesome. Thank you.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I am posting three different stories below, one an e-mail and two others about the establishment of the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Program. Here's a photo of an HU-16B on takeoff from the water:



SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

will you be publishing your experiences in a book, since you mentioned manuscript. I googled but could not find that title. Both my kids are trying ROTC Airfirce in college, (engineering) but we don't hear about the action adventure type training.
It says You have not lost pj people in the water, the ground is more hazardous to para rescue. (emphasis added, jcr)

I have a manuscript I've been putting together for the last ten plus years, and am getting toward publication, I think. Perhaps early next year.

Your comment above, that I highlighted, is not correct. We have lost PJs in the water, but that was in severe storms, from crashes, and from combat rescue. Above I mentioned the Gemini VIII mission. One of our pilots, David K. Wendt in the 304th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron was a pilot on the HU-16B Albatross from which the PJs jumped. He had this remembrance of that mission, and also the loss of a PJ in combat in Haiphong Harbor, North Vietnam during that war (see the below post for more, as I cannot paste into this post for some reason):

Yes, I remember Sgt. Neal well, and yes, I was there for Gemini 8 - I was the duty officer that day - a lowly Capt. that was rather overshadowed when several colonels and at least one BG showed up! I have a photograph of them conferring in our ops area -- as I recall we got a call from CinCPac himself - probably a 3 or 4 star admiral in Hawaii -- and I very well remmeber the general saying to him, "No sir, we won't land our HU-16 to pick up the astronauts!" Wasn't one of them Neil Armstrong? And of course, the BG told our Col. that under NO circumstances would tat - 16 land - PERIOD! So, the PJs and the astronauts bobbed around in the ocean for another 24 hours or so until a Navy destroyer finally picked them up. I guess it was humiliating enough to the Navy that AF PJs were first on scene, and not Navy SEALS.....!! Oh well.. The A/C on the -16 was a fairly senior Capt. -- can't remember his name now -- but when they landed back home he showed us a sketch of the seas there and just what his landing heading was going to be. He had radioed that in and our ops off - L/C Freshwater - who had mulled it over for awhile and advised 5 more degrees to the N - or whatever!! If they hadn't gone through all that bother, the -16 would have landed - gotten the job done - and been airborne back home before CinCPac could have gotten involved. I think a HC-130 arrived on scene to ride cover and let the -16 RTB. It was quite a party in Naha port when the destroyer finally docked....

Yes, I remember training for Gemini missions and duckbutting for several. Nice respite from VietNam. Were you down at Kirtland AFB of STS-1?

After our SS Mission in Nov 64, when our PJ - Pleiman, as I recall - thought that having a rope around his middle and being helped back to the -16 would be a good idea. This was used for 6 months or so until Capt Westenbarger, on a mission right off the NVN coast, was hit by a mortar round. The RO was killed, the PJ injured and was taken under by the rope when the plane sank. The Nav got the AF Cross on that msn. They stopped tying the PJ to the plane after that.....

Thanks for the pics - haven't opened them yet but am about to. Dave.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

THE PRINSENDAM FIRE
By John Cassidy, former USAF Pararescueman
Pararescue Historian
Maintains PJs in 'Nam website

This is the story of the loss of the MS Prinsendam, and how the USAF Pararescue, U.S. Coast Guard, Canadian Service and the U.S. Merchant Marine worked to save lives.

John

PS, they worked from an HH-3E Jolly Green Giant helicopter, and I have a photo of one I took in 1968 at Osan Air Force Base, Korea below, so you'll know what he is talking about.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

History of the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Program:

The Congressional Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee convened hearings to question why the worlds premier maritime rescue service was unable to assist people in the water. It became apparent during testimony the existing techniques and equipment were inadequate for rescue in such extreme circumstances as occurred with the MARINE ELECTRIC. Congress, therefore, mandated in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1984 that "The Commandant of the Coast Guard shall use such sums as are necessary, from amounts appropriated for the operational maintenance of the Coast Guard, to establish a helicopter rescue swimmer program for the purpose of training selected Coast Guard personnel in rescue swimming skills."

That was 1984. The swimming I did with the USAF Pararescue was in 1968 to 1977. Here's a news story from an early demonstration of the use of Pararescue and helicopters in about 1972:



SeaRat

 

[Reelman1]

swingin' under a T10...does it get any better? OO-RAH!

 

[northernone]

Enjoying this learning greatly. Thank you for sharing with us!

Warmest regards,
Cameron

 

[KevinG58]

Thanks very much for posting. The NASA stuff is always interesting but so is the Pararescue. Difficult to imagine wearing a parachute on top of tanks and getting through a narrow doorway while buffeted by the airflow.
Then the aspect of landing and there is simply no one left to jump and help you.
Gemini VIII was an early re-entry, iirc after a malfunction of the reaction control system. Armstrong activated the re-entry system to regain control, and that required a premature end to the mission.