![]() ![]() ![]() Cargo and Troop Carrier planes returning empty from the front lines were often the ONLY swift means of evacuation, and transported medical patients to General Hospitals in New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and Australia. Most sea and land routes in the CBI Theater and the Southwest Pacific region inhibited rapid medical evacuation. Because incapacitating wounds frequently occurred in areas remote from available medical facilities, providing care to soldiers and airmen often required evacuation by air! In fact, informal Air Evacuation operations began in 1942 in the Pacific Theater and in Asia. The US Armed Forces had their first large-scale experience with Air Evacuation during WW2. World War 2:Ĭ-54 Skymasters, four-engine cargo planes, evacuated thousands of combat casualties from Great Britain to the Zone of Interior. The Chief of Transportation however had no responsibility for patients evacuated by air, but he worked in close coordination with the US Air Transport Command in regard to plans and procedures to be utilized. Air Evacuation had its advantage it was speedy and highly desirable for the critically wounded for whom proper treatment could not be furnished in the Theaters. Apart from transportation by sea, the number of patients transported by air would gradually increase as more means became available. The general flow of patients from overseas was governed by the War Department (WD) evacuation policy which in effect determined which patients were to be treated in the Theaters, and which were to be treated in the Zone of Interior. The regulations pertaining to the movement of patients were to change in many respects throughout the war, and good coordination between the Army Service Forces (ASF, formerly SOS, Services of Supply), the Chief of Transportation, the Army Air Forces Command, and The Chief Surgeon, were of utmost importance. Procedures evolved only gradually as the result of experience. ![]() The early measures to provide the necessary means for Hospitalization and Evacuation were taken somewhat haltingly, partly because it was rather difficult to forecast the extent of the needs and partly because of differing opinions regarding the extent to which the necessary means should be used. Wartime evacuation of sick and wounded personnel from overseas Theaters involves problems quite different from those encountered in peacetime because of the volume of traffic and the abnormal transportation conditions! As reported before, the United States Army had not made adequate advance plans, and much had to be done in developing facilities and procedures after the United States entered World War 2 (you are kindly invited to also read our Articles on Hospital Trains and Hospital Ships). Interior view of C-46 transport plane, it is equipped with webbing strap litter supports. ![]()
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