HELICOPTER IN KOREA

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 24, 25 June 1952, Page 2

HELICOPTER IN KOREA

High Speed Ambulance Just after 12 o'clock one night, a helicopter with a wounded soldier aboard landed on the deck of an American hospital ship anchored ofl the east coast of Korea. Within one minute the soldier was in hospital. Under ordinary eircumstances, the wounded man would have remained ashore overnight, been taken from the airstrip to the beach by ambulance, then by small boat to the floating hospital. That man was one of the more than 400 injured and wounded United Nations soldiers who were swiftly and comfortably tiansported by helicopter to the hospital ship Consolation during a six .weeks testing period. The Consolation is the first U.S. Navy ship to be equipped with a helicopter landing deck. As a result of the successful tests, the Navy plans to instal similar decks on the remaining American hospital ships, and Naval ofBcers have recommended that many other vessels be so equipped. Helicopters have long been used in Korea to transport wounded men to field hospitals. In certain operational situations, however, it is desirable to transport the wounded to a hospital ship. The case fatality rate among United Nations troops resisting Communist aggression in Korea is already the lov/est in the history of warfare. Of every 1000 wounded soldiers who come under medical care, 975 are saved from death. The new life-saving technique could improve that record.