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Apr 25, 2013 - Today in History

Today in 1944, Flying a Sikorsky YR-4 helicopter, Lt. Carter Harman, 1st Air Commando Group, rescued four men from the jungle in Burma. That rescue was the first combat rescue by helicopters in the U.S. Army Air Forces.

In this US Air Force Museum photo, probably taken in January 1945, Lt. Carter Harman (standing left) is shown with the ground crew including his crew-chief/mechanic, Sgt. Jim Phelan (front row right). Lt. Frank Peterson, a veteran R-4 test pilot who performed a later epic Burma rescue mission with a YR-4B, stands beside Lt. Harman.