RAF Search and Rescue Force

The Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Force (SARF or SAR Force) was the Royal Air Force organisation which provided around-the-clock aeronautical search and rescue cover in the United Kingdom, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands, from 1986 until 2016.

RAF Search and Rescue Force
Westland Sea King HAR3A
Active	1941 – 18 February 2016
Disbanded	18 February 2016
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Role	Search and Rescue

The Search and Rescue Force was established in 1986 from the helicopter elements of the RAF Marine Branch which was disbanded that year. The Force supported search and rescue over the United Kingdom until 4 October 2015 when the role was handed over to civilian contractor Bristow Helicopters.

On 18 February 2016, the force's disbandment was officially marked with a parade in front of The Duke of Cambridge, who was a former SAR pilot, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, his wife.[1]

History

Whaleback high speed air-sea rescue launch HSL 164 off Ceylon in 1943

In 1918 the RAF was established through the merging of the aviation arms of the Royal Navy, the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS), and that of the Army, the Royal Flying Corps. Together with its aircraft, vessels acquired to support RAF seaplane operations were also transferred to the new service,[2] becoming the Marine Craft Section (MCS),[2]

Post-war the MCS became a force of 150 vessels which in addition to supporting the operation of seaplanes were equipped for rescue operations, with a launch being at the ready whenever an aircraft was flying over water.[2] However, the training and seamanship of the crews, especially with regards to navigation, meant that the MCS at this time was only suitable for inshore rescue operations.[2]

As the vessels it had inherited from the Navy began wear out the RAF began to have built for it launches capable of higher speeds and in light of the larger crews of some aircraft, greater capacity. This would in the late 1930s lead to the acquiring of High Speed Launches (HSL) for rescue operations.

However, during the Second World War the MCS found itself ill-prepared for war. During the Battle of Britain even with the help of civilian vessels and the Royal Navy, aircrew who baled out or ditched in the North Sea and English Channel had only a 20 percent chance of being returned to their squadrons, with over 200 pilots and aircrew being lost to the sea during the battle.[2] An informal air-sea rescue was started in July 1940 by Flying Officer Russell Aitken, who with the approval of his senior officer at RAF Gosport, began flying a Supermarine Walrus to rescue pilots downed in the English Channel. By the end of August, when he ceased this work, he had rescued around 35 British and German aircrew.[3]

In light of this, in 1941, an emergency meeting was convened by Air Marshal Sir Arthur Bomber Harris. The Royal Navy offered to take over in its entirety the at sea rescue role, the RAF declined and subsequently created the Directorate of Air Sea Rescue on 6 February 1941, which adopted the motto "The sea shall not have them". Operationally it was to become known as Air Sea Rescue Services (ASRS), which later became the RAF Search and Rescue Force.[4] The headquarters of the ASRS was co-located with that of Coastal Command with which it was to operate closely.

Together with creation of specialist Air Sea Rescue Units (ASRU), ASRS worked to improve the survival of aircrews through the development and issue of better individual survival equipment, including one man inflatable dinghies for fighter pilots copied from the Germans; the training of aircrew in ditching drills to maximise their chances of surviving to be retrieved; the development and fielding of air droppable survival equipment; and coordination between the different services, branches and units towards the goal of locating and recovering of downed airmen.

Rescue & Target Towing Launch (RTTL) 2757, built in 1957, in the Grounds of the Royal Air Force Museum London, Hendon.

The air-sea rescue squadrons of the ASRS flew a variety of aircraft, usually hand me downs rejected or withdrawn from front line service by the RAF's other branches or as in the case of the Walrus begged from the Navy.[5] They used Supermarine Spitfires and Boulton Paul Defiants to patrol for downed aircrew and Avro Ansons to drop supplies and dinghies. Supermarine Walrus and Supermarine Sea Otter amphibious craft were used to pick up aircrew from the water.[6] Larger aircraft were used to drop airborne lifeboats. Although the Walrus and Sea Otters could pick up survivors close to shore and in coastal waters further out to sea it was still not possible for aircraft to routinely pick up survivors, the large flying boats that could do so, such as the Consolidated Catalinas and Short Sunderlands of Coastal Command, had many other jobs to do and were not always available.[5] The role of aircraft in the ASRS therefore, was to locate downed airmen and to keep them alive, by dropping them survival equipment and stores, until an ASRS launch, or one from the Royal Navy's Naval Sea Rescue Services, arrived to pick them up.[5] Generally MCS craft had responsibility for the Channel and North Sea, and Navy ones for the Western Approaches.

By the end of the Second World War, more than 8,000 aircrew and 5,000 civilians had been rescued. At the end of the Second World War the MCS had some 300 HSLs and over a thousand other vessels,[2] the largest fleet of such rescue craft in the world. This fleet and the RAF sailors that crewed it would contract as the RAF did, however it continued be found everywhere that the RAF flew over water.

Introduction of helicopters

In the mid 1950s, helicopters began to replace fixed–wing aircraft and supplement the marine craft in the search and rescue role, their ability to hover giving them an ability to recover survivors that fixed wing aircraft did not have. It was not until the 1960s, with the introduction of the Westland Whirlwind, the Westland Wessex and later the Westland Sea King, that it was possible to replace marine craft in all sea and weather conditions. Helicopters have the advantage of speed, which means that the same coverage as marine craft can be provided with far fewer bases and much reduced personnel numbers. However, even into the 1970s helicopters had not completely replaced RAF marine craft, however by this time the MCS craft were becoming increasingly elderly and service in the MCS increasingly unattractive.

In 1986 the Marine Branch was disbanded, the last of the RAF's vessels were retired. Henceforth the RAF's rescue operations would be entirely helicopter based, Air Sea Rescue Services would be renamed the Search and Rescue Force.

Role

A SAR Force winchman practising drills.

The SARF's primary roles were military search and rescue, and the provision of rescue for civilian aircraft in distress under the 1948 Chicago Convention. The latter was a delegated responsibility to the UK MoD from the Department of Transport, who had primary responsibility for general search and rescue of any type throughout the UK Search and Rescue Region (UK SRR). The military role involved the rescuing of aircrew who have ejected or parachuted from, or crash-landed their aircraft. This role raises the wartime combat effectiveness of the RAF (and RN) by enabling downed aircrew to be returned to front-line flying duties as soon as possible.

Although established with a primary role of military search and rescue, most of SARF's operational missions were spent in its secondary role, conducting civil search and rescue. This entails the rescue of civilians from the sea, on mountains, from flooded regions or other locations on land.

The aeronautical search and rescue roles were complemented by the related Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service whose trained mountaineers also conduct search and rescue in hilly terrain. SARF helicopters and RAF mountaineers often work together on mountain rescue incidents.

The military and civil roles were shared with the Sea King helicopters of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, while the civil search and rescue role was also shared with the helicopters of HM Coastguard.

Organization

No. 22 Squadron RAF

February 1955 - June 1955 - HQ at RAF Thorney Island

• Bristol Sycamore HC.12[7]

June 1955 - June 1956 - HQ at RAF Thorney Island

• Westland Whirlwind HAR.2[7]

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Valley	Anglesey	September 1955	June 1956
Unknown	RAF Thorney Island	Hampshire	June 1955	June 1956
Unknown	RAF Martlesham Heath	Suffolk	June 1955	April 1956
Unknown	RAF Felixstowe	Suffolk	April 1956	June 1956	Flight moved from Martlesham Heath
Unknown	RAF St Mawgan	Cornwall	1956	June 1956

June 1956 - April 1974 - HQ at RAF St Mawgan

• Westland Whirlwind HAR.2 until August 1962 replaced by Whirlwind HAR.10s from August 1962[7]

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
A	RAF St Mawgan	Cornwall	June 1956	November 1958	Moved to Chivenor
A	RAF Chivenor	Devon	November 1958		Moved from Mawgan
Unknown	RAF Felixstowe	Suffolk		May 1961	Moved to Tangmere
Unknown	RAF Tangmere	West Sussex	May 1961		Moved from Felixstowe
Unknown	RAF Thorney Island	Hampshire		December 1959
Unknown	RAF Valley	Anglesey
Unknown	RAF Manston	Kent	July 1961
Unknown	RAF Coltishall	Norfolk

April 1974 - January 1976 - HQ at RAF Thorney Island

• Whirlwind HAR.10[7]

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Valley	Anglesey
Unknown	RAF Chivenor	Devon
Unknown	RAF Coltishall	Norfolk
Unknown	RAF Brawdy	Pembrokeshire

January 1976 - June 1976 - HQ at RAF Finningley

• Whirlwind HAR.10[7]

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Valley	Anglesey
Unknown	RAF Chivenor	Devon
Unknown	RAF Brawdy	Pembrokeshire
Unknown	RAF Leuchars	Fife
Unknown	RAF Manston	Kent
Unknown	RAF Leconfield	East Riding of Yorkshire

22 Squadron Westland Wessex HAR.2 on display at RAF Finningley in 1977.

June 1976 - unknown - HQ at RAF Finningley

• Westland Wessex HAR.2[7]

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
A	RAF Chivenor	Devon			[8]
B	RAF Leuchars	Fife			[8]
C	RAF Valley	Anglesey			[8]
D	RAF Leconfield	East Riding of Yorkshire
E	RAF Manston	Kent

Unknown - October 2015 - HQ at RAF Valley

• Westland Sea King HAR.3

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
A	RMB Chivenor	Devon		October 2015	[9]
B	RAF Wattisham	Suffolk
C	RAF Valley	Anglesey		July 2015	[10][11]

No. 110 Squadron RAF

3 June 1959 – 15 February 1971 - HQ at RAF Kuala Lumpur

• Whirlwind HC.4/HAR.10 & Sycamore HR.13(April 1960-October 1964)

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	Nanga Gaat	Borneo	1963	November 1967	Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
Unknown		Brunei	1963	November 1967	Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation

No. 202 Squadron RAF

Westland Whirlwind HAR.10 of 202 Squadron at RAF Coltishall in 1971

August 1964 - September 1976 - HQ at RAF Leconfield

• Whirlwind HAR.10

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Acklington	Northumberland
Unknown	RAF Ouston	Northumberland
Unknown	RAF Coltishall	Norfolk
Unknown	RAF Leuchars	Fife

September 1976 - July 1978 - HQ at RAF Finningley

• Whirlwind HAR.10

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Boulmer	Northumberland
Unknown	RAF Leconfield	East Riding of Yorkshire
Unknown	RAF Coltishall	Norfolk
Unknown	RAF Lossiemouth	Moray
Unknown	RAF Brawdy	Pembrokeshire

July 1978 – 1989 - HQ at RAF Finningley

• Whirlwind HAR.10 until November 1979, Westland Sea King HAR.3 & Westland Wessex HAR.2

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
A	RAF Boulmer	Northumberland			[8]
B	RAF Brawdy	Pembrokeshire			[8]
C	RAF Coltishall	Norfolk		1982	[8]
C	RAF Stanley	Falkland Islands	1982	1983	Became No. 1564 Flight RAF
D	RAF Lossiemouth	Moray			[8]

1989 - April 2008 - HQ at RAF Boulmer

• Westland Sea King HAR.3[12]

April 2008 - October 2015 - HQ at RAF Valley

• Westland Sea King HAR.3[12]

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
A	RAF Boulmer	Northumberland		October 2015	[13]
D	RAF Lossiemouth	Moray		April 2015	[14]
E	RAF Leconfield	East Yorkshire		March 2015

No. 228 Squadron RAF

September 1959 - August 1964 - HQ at RAF Leconfield

• Bristol Sycamore & Westland Whirlwind

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Aldergrove	Co. Antrim			Flight became 118 Sqn

Disbanded into 202 Squadron

No. 275 Squadron RAF

15 October 1941 - April 1944 - HQ at RAF Valley

• Westland Lysander, Supermarine Walrus, Boulton Paul Defiant, Supermarine Spitfire & Avro Anson

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Andreas	Isle of Man	30 November 1941	25 Apr 1944
Unknown	RAF Eglinton	Co. Londonderry	30 May 1943	14 Apr 1944

April 1944 - August 1944 - HQ at RAF Warmwell

7 August1944 - 18 October 1944 - HQ at RAF Bolt Head

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Portreath	Cornwall	7 August1944	18 October 1944

18 October 1944 – 10 January 1945 - HQ at RAF Exeter

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Portreath	Cornwall	18 October 1944	10 January 1945
Unknown	RAF Bolt Head	Devon	18 October 1944	10 January 1945

10 January 1945 – 15 February1945 - HQ at RAF Harrowbeer

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Portreath	Cornwall	10 January 1945	15 February 1945
Unknown	RAF Bolt Head	Devon	10 January 1945	15 February 1945

Disbanded between 1945 & 1953

1 March 1953 – 18 November 1954 - HQ at RAF Linton-on-Ouse

• Bristol Sycamore HR.13/HR.14

18 November 1954 – 9 October 1957 - HQ at RAF Thornaby

9 October 1957 – 1 September 1959 - HQ at RAF Leconfield

• Converted to Whirlwind HAR.2/HAR.4 in March 1959

Disbanded into 228 Squadron

No. 276 Squadron RAF

21 October 1941 - September 1944 - HQ at RAF Harrowbeer

• Lysander, Walrus, Hurricanes, Defiants, Spitfires and Ansons
• Vickers Warwicks replaced Ansons from April 1944

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	Querqueville	France	August 1944	September 1944	Covering Normandy landings

September 1944 - Unknown - HQ at Querqueville

• Lysander, Walrus, Hurricanes, Defiants, Spitfires and Warwicks
• Warwicks handed over to 277 Squadron in October 1944

Unknown - 23 August 1945 - HQ in Belgium

23 August 1945 – 10 November 1945 - HQ at Kjevik, Norway

10 November 1945 – 14 November 1945 - HQ at RAF Dunsfold

No. 277 Squadron RAF

22 December 1941 – 26 February 1945 - HQ at RAF Stapleford Tawney

• Lysander, Walrus, Defiant, Spitfire, Sea Otter & Warwick

Detachments at RAF Martlesham Heath, RAF Hawkinge, RAF Shoreham and RAF Tangmere.

No. 278 Squadron RAF

No. 279 Squadron RAF

16 November 1941 - October 1944 - HQ at RAF Bircham Newton

• Lockheed Hudson

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Sumburgh	Shetland Islands	28 April 1942	29 May 1942
Unknown	RAF Benbecula	Outer Hebrides	29 June 1942	1942
Unknown	RAF Leuchars	Fife	15 July 1942	1942
Unknown	RAF Reykjavik	Iceland	26 July 1942	15 August 1942
Unknown	RAF Thorney Island	West Sussex	14 August 1942	15 August 1942
Unknown	RAF Chivenor	Devon	15 August 1942	19 August 1942
Unknown	RAF St Eval	Cornwall	23 August 1942	5 February 1943
Unknown	RAF Beaulieu	Hampshire	25 September 1942	1942
Unknown	RAF Davidstow Moor	Cornwall	5 February 1943	9 June 1943
Unknown	RAF Harrowbeer	Devon	9 June 1943	14 December 1943
Unknown	RAF Wick	Highlands	28 September 1943	1945
Unknown	RAF Reykjavik	Iceland	1 January 1944	1 August 1944

October 1944 - September 1945 - HQ at RAF Thornaby

• Vickers Warwick

Flight	Base	County	From	Until	Notes
Unknown	RAF Tain	Ross and Cromarty	1 October 1944	September 1945
Unknown	RAF Wick	Highlands	1 October 1944	September 1945
Unknown	RAF Banff	Aberdeenshire	31 October 1944	27 December 1944
Unknown	RAF Fraserburgh	Aberdeenshire	27 December 1944	September 1945
Unknown	RAF Reykjavik	Iceland	26 May 1945	September 1945
Unknown	RAF Banff	Aberdeenshire	July 1945	September 1945
1348 (ASR) Flt	RAF Pegu	Burma	July 1945	Unknown

3 September 1945 – 10 March 1946 - HQ at RAF Beccles

No. 280 Squadron RAF

No. 281 Squadron RAF

No. 282 Squadron RAF

No. 283 Squadron RAF

No. 284 Squadron RAF

2015

HMS Gannet

RNAS Culdrose

Chivenor

Wattisham

RAF Valley

RAF Boulmer

RAF Lossiemouth

Leconfield

Lee-on-Solent

Portland

Stornoway Airport

Sumburgh Airport

Operational locations of aeronautical search and rescue cover in the United Kingdom. The colour of the location mark indicates the agency providing helicopter response (blue: Fleet Air Arm, yellow: RAF Search and Rescue Force, red: Her Majesty's Coastguard).

The SAR Force headquarters was situated at RAF Valley on Anglesey. In addition to the Force HQ proper, the HQ building housed the HQs of the RAFs two operational SAR squadrons in the UK (22 and 202), as well as the RAF Sea King Simulator. SAR Force HQ controlled the SAR Force's three helicopter squadrons and one independent flight. These were:

• No. 22 Squadron equipped with the Sea King HAR.3/HAR.3A.
• No. 202 Squadron equipped with the Sea King HAR.3.
• No. 84 Squadron based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and equipped with the Griffin HAR.2.
• No. 1564 Flight based at RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands and equipped with the Sea King HAR.3.

SARF's Operational Conversion Unit was No. 203 Squadron also based at RAF Valley and equipped with the Sea King HAR.3.

Coordination

In the UK, maritime search and rescue is coordinated by HM Coastguard, while land-based operations are usually coordinated by the local Police force.

From 1941 until the end of 1997 there were two Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centres (ARCC) – at Plymouth and at Edinburgh. These two were combined in 1997 at RAF Kinloss in the north of Scotland. All requests for assistance from the emergency services throughout the United Kingdom (Police, Fire, Ambulance and Coastguard) were handled at this single ARCC until March 2016 when responsibility for the service was transferred to civilian personnel of Her Majesty's Coastguard.[15]

Disbandment

Prestwick

Lee-on-Solent

St Athan

Inverness

Manston

Stornoway Airport

Sumburgh Airport

Newquay

Caernarfon

Humberside

Planned operational locations of aeronautical search and rescue cover in the United Kingdom from 2017. The colour of the location mark indicates the type of helicopter at each location (blue: AgustaWestland AW189, red: Sikorsky S-92).

In 2006, the government announced controversial plans to effectively privatise provision of search and rescue helicopters in order to replace the ageing Sea Kings, although they have suggested that crews may, at least partially, still be made up of military personnel.[16]

In February 2010, Soteria SAR was announced as the preferred bidder for the UK SAR programme.[17] On 8 February 2011, days before the contract was due to be signed, the UK Government halted the process after Soteria admitted that it had unauthorised access to commercially sensitive information regarding the programme.

While this contract is being renegotiated, a "Gap" contract was tendered for the existing Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) bases and in February 2012 it was announced that Bristow Helicopters would take over the running of Stornoway and Sumburgh using Sikorsky S-92s and that Portland and Lee on Solent would be retained by CHC Helicopter using AgustaWestland AW139s.

In March 2013 the Department for Transport announced that it had signed a contract with Bristow Helicopters Ltd to provide search and rescue helicopter services in the UK with operations commencing progressively from 2015.[18] The new service was fully operational across the United Kingdom by May 2019[19][20] and will use AgustaWestland AW189 and Sikorsky S-92 based at ten locations around the UK.[21]

See also

• History of Royal Navy Helicopter Search and Rescue
• Rescue

References

Citations

1. Royal Air Force. "RAF Search and Rescue Force Disbandment Parade". Facebook. Retrieved 18 February 2016. and "RAF Search and Rescue Force Disbandment Parade". Royal Air Force. Archived from the original on 25 February 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
2. Sutherland, Jon; Canwell, Diane (2010). The RAF Air Sea Rescue Service 1918–1986. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 184884303-8.
3. Pearson & Gorman 2020, pp. 31–33.
4. "A force for good that's saved 1000s of lives". RAF News. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
5. Jefford, Jeff (2007). "The ASR Air Orbat in WWII" (PDF). RAF Historical Society Journal. Royal Air Force Historical Society (40): 34–44. ISSN 1361-4231. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
6. London, Peter (2003). British Flying Boats. Stroud: Sutton. p. 182. ISBN 0-7509-2695-3.
7. Jefford 1988, p. 32.
8. Jackson 1990, p. 100.
9. Brown, Peter (5 October 2015). "RAF Search and Rescue operations end as 22 Squadron is stood down". North Devon Journal. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
10. "RAF Sea King Lands for the Last Time as an Operational SAR Flight at RAF Valley". Royal Air Force. 1 July 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
11. "Chivenor Sea King Completes Final RAF UK Operational Sortie". Royal Air Force. 5 October 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
12. "202 Squadron". Royal Air Force. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
13. "Sea Kings Depart RAF Boulmer". Royal Air Force. 1 October 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
14. "Last RAF Sea King helicopter leaves Lossiemouth as Bristow takes over". STV News. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
15. Hendry, Ben (6 April 2016). "Moray search and rescue operations transferred to the south of England". The Press and Journal. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
16. "Private Bids Plan for Air Rescue". BBC News. 9 May 2006. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
17. "MOD and MCA/DfT selects Soteria for SAR-H Programme". Soteria SAR. 9 February 2010. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
18. "Government contract to deliver faster, state of the art search and rescue fleet". Department for Transport. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
19. "Coastguard Takes Delivery of 2 new State of the Art SAR Helicopters". Oil Industry News. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
20. "Written statement to Parliament: Search and rescue helicopters". Department for Transport. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
21. "Bristow Group to take over UK search and rescue from RAF". BBC News. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.

Bibliography

• Jackson, R. (1990). Air Force - The RAF in the 1990s. London, UK: Guild Publishing. ISBN 978-1853101014.
• Jefford, C. G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
• Pearson, Simon; Gorman, Ed (2020). Battle of Britain: The Pilots and Planes That Made History. London, United Kingdom: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1-529-37807-8.

External links

• "Welcome to RAF Search and Rescue (SARF)". RAF Search and Rescue Force. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016.
• "Welcome". Royal Air Force Air Sea Rescue & Marine Craft Section Club.