FLASHBACK FRIDAY: A BLAST FROM THE PAST

  • Published
  • By Public Affairs Archives
  • 920th Rescue Wing
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in an explosion 400 times stronger than the atom bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki 35 years earlier.

The blast threw a cloud of debris 16 miles above sea level--or, roughly three times the height of Mount Everest.

One of the 920th Rescue Wing's geographically-separated units (GSU) was called to the scene shortly thereafter: the 304th Rescue Squadron, which was still known back then as the 304th Aerospace Rescue And Recovery Squadron.

In the days and weeks following the eruption, 304th crews flew the squadron's UH-IN Iroquois helicopters the roughly 40 miles northeast from their base at Portland International Airport, Ore., to lend a hand with humanitarian relief and any possible search-and-rescue operations at the volcano.

Other 920th GSUs include the 943d Rescue Group, and 305th and 306th Rescue Squadrons, all three of which are located at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz.; and the 920th Aerospace Medicine Flight at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.