The 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla. is an Air Force Reserve Command combat search and rescue unit. It trains and equips about 1200 personnel to search for, locate and recover U.S. Armed Forces personnel during military operations.

History

The 920th Rescue Wing traces its lineage to the 301st Rescue Squadron—the Air Force Reserve Command’s first search and rescue unit. It was activated in August 1956 at the Miami International Airport. Less than a year later, in January 1957, the unit became the first unit to record a “save”. In 1960, the unit’s expanding mission requirements prompted its relocation to Homestead Air Force Base, Fla. Participating in NASA’s contingency operations since the first Mercury launch in 1961, the wing has also had continuous involvement in America’s space program. On August 24, 1992, after Hurricane Andrew’s destruction of South Dade County and the unit’s facilities at Homestead, the 301st temporarily moved to Miami’s Tamiami Airport. During the next 18 days of around-the-clock operations, the 301st provided the county’s only air evacuation and rescue capability. The 301st remained at Tamiami until receiving its temporary assignment at Patrick Air Force Base in November of that year. The 920th Rescue Group was activated on April 15, 1997, with the 301st as one of its subordinate units. During its 48-year history, including its present compliment of HH-60s and HC-130s, the unit has operated SA-16 aircraft, H-34, HH-1 and H-3 helicopters. After the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, approximately 400 of the group’s airmen were activated and deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. During their tenure in Iraq, crews from the 920th were credited with saving 26 lives, more than any other rescue unit in the Air Force. Some of their more daring missions included rescuing a stranded A-10 pilot who ejected from his airplane after it was hit during a mission over Baghdad, and flying deep behind enemy lines to rescue a Marine special forces team who had been pinned down north of Nasiria. The 920th Rescue Group expanded to a wing April 1, 2003, gaining 400 personnel and two geographically separated units at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Portland, Oregon. The latest transition for the 920th Rescue Wing came Oct. 1, 2003 when it converted gaining major commands from Air Combat Command to Air Force Special Operations Command. Collectively, the unit has been credited with saving more than 700 lives, hundreds of them in September 1999 during North Carolina relief operations in the wake of Hurricane Floyd. The wing continues to support the ongoing efforts in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Awards

Over the years, the unit has earned numerous prestigious honors, including seven Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards and 10 presentations of the Albert P. Loening Trophy as Air Force Reserve Command’s best rescue unit. The wing has also received the Air Force Associations Citation of Honor and Maj. Gen. Tom Marchbanks Award for Heroism by the Reserve Officers’ Association. The 920th was presented the 1998 Aviation Week and Space Technology Magazine’s Top Aerospace Laureate Award for Operations for joining with the Coast Guard to rescue 29 crew members from a sinking freighter off Florida’s coast. In addition to these commendations, the men and women who fly and maintain the aircraft are extremely proud of the unit’s unblemished history of accident-free flying.