The Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Force (SARF or SAR Force) was the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

organisation which provided around-the-clock aeronautical

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

cover in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

, from 1986 until 2016. The Search and Rescue Force was established in 1986 from the helicopter elements of the

RAF Marine Branch The Marine Branch (1918-1986) was a branch of the Royal Air Force (RAF) which operated watercraft in support of RAF operations. Just days after the creation of the RAF itself, the Marine Craft Section (MCS) was created with the transfer of Roya ...

which was disbanded that year. The Force supported search and rescue over the

until 4 October 2015 when the role was handed over to civilian contractor

Bristow Helicopters Bristow Helicopters Limited is a British civil helicopter operator originally based at Aberdeen Airport, Scotland, which is currently a part of the U.S.-based Bristow Group (, S&P 600 component) which in turn has its corporate headquarters in ...

. On 18 February 2016, the force's disbandment was officially marked with a parade in front of

The Duke of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge, one of several current royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom , is a hereditary title of specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. The title (named after the city of Cambridge in England) is heritable by male de ...

, who was a former SAR pilot, and

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Princess of Wales, (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely next ...

, his wife.

History

HSL 164 with RAF Hurricane off Colombo c1943

In 1918 the RAF was established through the merging of the aviation arms of the Royal Navy, the

Royal Navy Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

(RNAS), and that of the Army, the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

. Together with its aircraft, vessels acquired to support RAF seaplane operations were also transferred to the new service, becoming the Marine Craft Section (MCS), 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. 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. 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the MCS found itself ill-prepared for war. During the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

even with the help of civilian vessels and the Royal Navy, aircrew who baled out or ditched in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

and

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

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. 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 Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite th ...

, began flying a

Supermarine Walrus The Supermarine Walrus (originally designated the Supermarine Seagull V) was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and manufactured by Supermarine at Woolston, Southampton. The Walrus f ...

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. 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. The headquarters of the ASRS was co-located with that of

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

with which it operated 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. RAF Museum, Colindale, London - DSC06008

RAF Museum, Colindale, London - DSC06008

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. They used

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

s and

Boulton Paul Defiant The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns ...

s to patrol for downed aircrew and

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...

s to drop supplies and dinghies.

and

Supermarine Sea Otter The Supermarine Sea Otter was an amphibious aircraft designed and built by the British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine. It was the final biplane flying boat to be designed by Supermarine; it was also the last biplane to enter service with bot ...

amphibious craft were used to pick up aircrew from the water. Larger aircraft were used to drop

airborne lifeboat Airborne lifeboats were powered lifeboats that were made to be dropped by fixed-wing aircraft into water to aid in air-sea rescue operations. An airborne lifeboat was to be carried by a heavy bomber specially modified to handle the external loa ...

s. 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 Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North East ...

s of Coastal Command, had many other jobs to do and were not always available. 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 A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It inc ...

, arrived to pick them up. Generally MCS craft had responsibility for the Channel and North Sea, and Navy ones for the

Western Approaches The Western Approaches is an approximately rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean lying immediately to the west of Ireland and parts of Great Britain. Its north and south boundaries are defined by the corresponding extremities of Britain. The c ...

. 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, 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 Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila, ...

, the

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes ...

and later the

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engin ...

, 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

RAF Search and Rescue Winchman Practising Drills MOD 45151090

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 The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service (RAFMRS) provides the UK military's only all-weather search and rescue asset for the United Kingdom. Royal Air Force mountain rescue teams (MRTs) were first organised during World War II to rescue aircr ...

whose trained mountaineers also conduct search and rescue in hilly terrain. SARF helicopters and RAF mountaineers often work together on

mountain rescue Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. This tends to include mountains with tech ...

incidents. The military and civil roles were shared with the Sea King helicopters of the Royal Navy's

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

, while the civil search and rescue role was also shared with the helicopters of

HM Coastguard His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the ...

Organization

Search and Rescue Wing The wing was formed at

RAF Finningley Royal Air Force Finningley or RAF Finningley was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station at Finningley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The station straddled the historic county boundaries of both ...

on 1 September 1976. Search and Rescue Training Unit The Search and Rescue Training Unit was formed on 3 December 1979.

No. 22 Squadron RAF

February 1955 - June 1955 - HQ at

RAF Thorney Island Royal Air Force Thorney Island or more simply RAF Thorney Island is a former Royal Air Force station located on Thorney Island, West Sussex, England, west of Chichester and east of Portsmouth, Hampshire. Station history The airfield was bu ...

Bristol Sycamore The Bristol Type 171 Sycamore was an early helicopter developed and built by the helicopter division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. The name refers to the seeds of the sycamore tree, '' Acer pseudoplatanus'', which fall with a rotating moti ...

HC.12 June 1955 - June 1956 - HQ at RAF Thorney Island *

HAR.2 June 1956 - April 1974 - HQ at RAF St Mawgan * Westland Whirlwind HAR.2 until August 1962 replaced by Whirlwind HAR.10s from August 1962 April 1974 - January 1976 - HQ at RAF Thorney Island * Whirlwind HAR.10 January 1976 - June 1976 - HQ at

* Whirlwind HAR.10 Westland Wessex HAR

June 1976 - unknown - HQ at RAF Finningley *

HAR.2 unknown - unknown - HQ at RAF St Mawgan * Westland Sea King HAR.3 Unknown - October 2015 - HQ at RAF Valley * Westland Sea King HAR.3

No. 110 Squadron RAF

3 June 1959 – 15 February 1971 - HQ at

RAF Kuala Lumpur Royal Air Force Kuala Lumpur or more simply RAF Kuala Lumpur is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station in the Federation of Malaya and saw extensive use during the Malayan Emergency. It was built and opened by the RAF in 1931. Military The air ...

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

No. 202 Squadron RAF

August 1964 - September 1976 - HQ at

RAF Leconfield Royal Air Force Leconfield or more simply RAF Leconfield is a former Royal Air Force station located in Leconfield (near Beverley), East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site is now used by the MoD Defence School of Transport Leconfield or D ...

* Whirlwind HAR.10 September 1976 - July 1978 - HQ at RAF Finningley * Whirlwind HAR.10 July 1978 – 1 December 1992 - HQ at RAF Finningley * Whirlwind HAR.10 until November 1979,

HAR.3 & Westland Wessex HAR.2 1 December 1992 - April 2008 - HQ at RAF Boulmer * Westland Sea King HAR.3 April 2008 - October 2015 - HQ at RAF Valley * Westland Sea King HAR.3

No. 228 Squadron RAF

September 1959 - August 1964 - HQ at RAF Leconfield *

& Westland Whirlwind Disbanded into 202 Squadron

No. 275 Squadron RAF

15 October 1941 - April 1944 - HQ at RAF Valley *

Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's ...

April 1944 - August 1944 - HQ at

RAF Warmwell Royal Air Force Warmwell or more simply RAF Warmwell is a former Royal Air Force station near Warmwell in Dorset, England from 1937 to 1946, located about 5 miles east-southeast of Dorchester; 100 miles southwest of London. During the Second W ...

7 August1944 - 18 October 1944 - HQ at RAF Bolt Head 18 October 1944 – 10 January 1945 - HQ at

RAF Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

10 January 1945 – 15 February1945 - HQ at

RAF Harrowbeer Royal Air Force Harrowbeer or more simply RAF Harrowbeer is a former Royal Air Force station situated next to Yelverton in the parish of Buckland Monachorum, Devon, England Location RAF Harrowbeer was located approximately NNE of the city of ...

Disbanded between 1945 & 1953 1 March 1953 – 18 November 1954 - HQ at

RAF Linton-on-Ouse RAF Linton-on-Ouse was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, England, north-west of York. It had satellite stations at RAF Topcliffe and Dishforth Airfield (British Army). The station opened in 1937. With the ...

* Bristol Sycamore HR.13/HR.14 18 November 1954 – 9 October 1957 - HQ at

RAF Thornaby Royal Air Force Thornaby or more simply RAF Thornaby was a former Royal Air Force Station located near the town of Thornaby-on-Tees, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England. Fighter Command, Bomber Command and Coastal Command all operated fro ...

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,

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s, Defiants, Spitfires and Ansons *

Vickers Warwick The Vickers Warwick was a multi-purpose twin-engined British aircraft developed and operated during the Second World War. In line with the naming convention followed by other RAF heavy bombers of the era, it was named after a British city or ...

s replaced Ansons from April 1944 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 Dunsfold Aerodrome (former ICAO code EGTD) is an unlicensed airfield in Surrey, England, near the village of Cranleigh. It extends across land in the villages of Dunsfold and Alfold. It was built by the Canadian Army and civilian contractors ...

No. 277 Squadron RAF

22 December 1941 – 26 February 1945 - HQ at RAF Stapleford Tawney * Lysander, Walrus, Defiant, Spitfire,

Sea Otter The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the small ...

& Warwick Detachments at

RAF Martlesham Heath Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of ...

RAF Hawkinge Royal Air Force Hawkinge or more simply RAF Hawkinge is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Ashford, north of Folkestone, Kent and west of Dover, Kent, England. The airfield was used by both the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal ...

RAF Shoreham Brighton City Airport , also commonly known as Shoreham Airport, is located in the Civil parish, parish of Lancing, West Sussex, Lancing in West Sussex, England. It has a Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom), CAA Public Use Aerodrome Lice ...

and

RAF Tangmere RAF Tangmere was a Royal Air Force station located in Tangmere, England, famous for its role in the Battle of Britain, and one of several stations near Chichester, West Sussex. The famous Second World War aces Wing Commander Douglas Bader, a ...

No. 278 Squadron RAF

No. 279 Squadron RAF

16 November 1941 - October 1944 - HQ at

RAF Bircham Newton Royal Air Force Bircham Newton or more simply RAF Bircham Newton is a former Royal Air Force station located south east of Docking, Norfolk and north east of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. History The site was first used during the First Wo ...

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...

October 1944 - September 1945 - HQ at RAF Thornaby * Vickers Warwick 3 September 1945 – 10 March 1946 - HQ at

RAF Beccles Beccles Airfield, also known as Beccles Airport or Beccles Aerodrome , is located in Ellough, southeast of Beccles in the English county of Suffolk. Built during the second world war, it has operated as a heliport servicing the North Sea oil a ...

No. 280 Squadron RAF

No. 281 Squadron RAF

No. 282 Squadron RAF

No. 283 Squadron RAF

No. 284 Squadron RAF

2015

The SAR Force headquarters was situated at

RAF Valley Royal Air Force Valley or more simply RAF Valley ( cy, Llu Awyr Brenhinol Y Fali) is a Royal Air Force station on the island of Anglesey, Wales, and which is also used as Anglesey Airport. It provides both basic and advanced fast-jet training ...

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

. 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 Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

. 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 RAF Akrotiri ( el, Βασιλική Πολεμική Αεροπορία Ακρωτηρίου) is a large Royal Air Force base on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. It is located in the Western Sovereign Base Area, one of two areas which compr ...

and equipped with the Griffin HAR.2. * No. 1564 Flight based at

RAF Mount Pleasant RAF Mount Pleasant (also known as Mount Pleasant Airport, Mount Pleasant Complex or MPA) is a Royal Air Force station in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. The airfield goes by the motto of "Defend the right" (while the m ...

in the

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

and equipped with the Sea King HAR.3.

Coordination

In the UK, maritime search and rescue is coordinated by

, while land-based operations are usually coordinated by the local

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

force. From 1941 until the end of 1997 there were two

Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre The United Kingdom's Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) is based at the National Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC), Fareham, Hampshire. Structure The centre is responsible for coordinating all Maritime & Coastguard Agency Search and ...

s (ARCC) – at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and at

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. These two were combined in 1997 at

RAF Kinloss Royal Air Force Kinloss or RAF Kinloss is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near the village of Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north east of Scotland. The RAF station opened on 1 April 1939 and served as a training establishme ...

in the north of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. 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 His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the ...

Disbandment

In 2006, the government announced controversial plans to effectively

privatise Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

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 Military personnel are members of the state's armed forces. Their roles, pay, and obligations differ according to their military branch (army, navy, marines, air force, space force, and coast guard), rank (officer, non-commissioned officer, or e ...

. In February 2010, Soteria SAR was announced as the ''preferred bidder'' for the UK SAR programme. 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 The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom that responsible for implementing British and international maritime law and safety policy. It works to prevent the loss of lives at sea and to prevent marine ...

(MCA) bases and in February 2012 it was announced that

would take over the running of Stornoway and Sumburgh using

Sikorsky S-92 The Sikorsky S-92 is an American twin-engine medium-lift helicopter built by Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1 ...

s and that Portland and Lee on Solent would be retained by

CHC Helicopter CHC Helicopter is a Texas-based helicopter services company. CHC Helicopter maintains it global headquarters in Irving, Texas and operates more than 250 aircraft in 30 countries around the world. CHC's major international operating units are b ...

using

AgustaWestland AW139 The AgustaWestland AW139 is a medium-lift twin-engined helicopter developed and produced by the Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, later wholly owned by Leonardo S.p.A. It is marketed at several different roles, including V ...

s. 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. The new service was fully operational across the United Kingdom by May 2019 and will use

AgustaWestland AW189 The AgustaWestland AW189 is a twin-engined, super-medium-lift helicopter manufactured by Leonardo S.p.A. It is derived from the AW149, and shares similarities with the AW139 and AW169. Development On 20 June 2011, development of the eight-tonn ...

and

based at ten locations around the UK.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raf Search And Rescue Force Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force Rescue aviation units and formations Emergency services in the United Kingdom Sea rescue in the United Kingdom 1941 establishments in the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1941