April 25, 1944

The first combat rescue by helicopter takes place, as AAF 2nd Lt. Carter Harman, flying a Sikorsky YR-4 Hoverfly, lifts a downed L-1 pilot and the three injured British soldiers he was carrying out of the jungle in Burma one at a time. AAF Col. Philip Cochran, commander of the 1st Air Commando Group, later writes, “Today, the “˜egg beater’ went into action and the damn thing acted like it had good sense.”