FLASHBACK FRIDAY: a blast from the past

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in explosion 400 times stronger than the atom bomb dropped on the Japansese 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. In the days and weeks following the eruption, the 304th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron traveled from their base at Portland International Airport, Ore., to lend a hand with humanitarian relief and any possible search-and-rescue operations. Pictured here, a UH-IN Iroquois helicopter from the 304th flies near the steam rising from the crater several days after the eruption. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Robert Leach)

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