The first recorded aeromedical evacuation in the British Army--the true story.

Abstract

During the First World War the airplane was used for evacuation of casualties to a very minor extent l . was thus very interesting to find in Rexford-Welch's History of the Royal Air Force Medical Services during the Second World War the following paragraph: first British record of a wounded man travelling by air is dated 1917, in the Sinai Desert. A trooper of the Imperial Camel Corps had his ankle shattered by a Bedouin bullet during an attack on Bir-el-Hassana, and at first preparations were made to send him to railhead in a cacolet on a camel. However, his medical officer persuaded the pilot of a DH-4 biplane to carry him as a sitting casualty in the observer's seat of the aircraft and on February 19, with his ankle in a box splint, he was flown to 153. The journey bi' air took 45 minutes, instead of the usual2Yz to 3 days . Considering Rexford-WeIch's work as a secondary source, an attempt was made in order to find a primary or at least contemporary record of the event. was not mentioned either in the British Official History of the War or in the British Medical Services General History ofthe First World War. Several diaries written by people who had participated in the war against Turkey in the Sinai Peninsula failed to reveal any information concerning an event of aeromedical evacuation. Two sources were found in which the event was mentioned: The first was a diary of an anonymous Serjeant-Major RAMC who wrote: It is interesting .to note that one case, that of a wounded British officer, was evacuated from Magdhaba byaeroplane,,3. Opposite the page with this remark there was a photograph of the aeroplane in which the casualty had been evacuated. The second source was the official history of the Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine: While the post (Bir-el-Hassana) was being surrounded Lance-Corporal MacGregor was shot and severely wounded by armed Bedouins; it was found impossible to evacuate him on a camel cacolet, and he was therefore carried back to El Arish in one of the aeroplanes which had been co-operating with the force,,4. This description fits almost completely the one in Rexford-WeIch's book: the location of the event, the date and the type of casualty. Kilo 153 was near El Arish, where a receiving station and a casualty