Out of the Hangar: History Office Explores First Military Combat Helicopter Rescue (VIDEO) Published May 3, 2024 By Joe Danielewicz, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Public Affairs The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s History Office regularly produces work that connects today’s acquisition professionals with the work of their predecessors. Many of the summaries can be found in weekly dispatches posted online. “Just like Soldiers and Airmen out in the field might study past battles through military history, we believe that the acquisition professionals here can learn from understanding how their predecessors did those same jobs, but within different contexts,” Chief Historian Kevin M. Rusnak explains in a video that dives into a historical first: the first military combat helicopter rescue. Helicopters are now part of AFLCMC/WI - ISR & SOF Directorate (split among a few divisions, but the particular story is tied to the Special Operations Forces, Personnel Recovery, and Rotary Division). As Rusnak explains in a series titled “Out of the Hangar,” that first-of-its-kind rescue took place during World War II and has an aviation through-line that connects an Army Air Forces lieutenant in Asia with the forerunners of modern-era helicopter producers and one of the Wright Brothers. Watch the full video above or on YouTube.