22nd Crash Rescue Boat Squadron

22nd Crash Rescue Boat Squadron
A U.S. Air Force 63 foot (19.20 m) Mark II crash rescue boat in peacetime trim
Active	1950–1953
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Combat search and rescue
Garrison/HQ	Itazuke Air Base, Fukuoka, Japan
Engagements	Korean War

The 22nd Crash Rescue Boat Squadron (22nd CRBS) was a U.S. Air Force combat search and rescue unit formed during the Korean War. While its original task was ocean rescue of downed pilots, its speedy and well-armed boats soon became prime vehicles for inserting spies, espionage agents, and sabotage parties into enemy territory for the 6004th Air Intelligence Service Squadron. Despite the hazards of both their overt and covert missions, the airmen of the 22nd CRBS never lost a boat during their clandestine operations in the war.

Due to the activation of the Air Rescue Service as part of the formation of the new U.S. Air Force (USAF), crash rescue boats were inactivated in March 1950. The start of the peninsular Korean War at 0400 hours on 25 June 1950 when North Koreans invaded South Korea, quickly brought the boats back out of storage as a wartime expedient for combat search and rescue operations. On 7 July 1950, the 6160th Air Base Group activated a boat section as Detachment 1; it comprised a lieutenant and four enlisted men with a 114-foot FP-47 cutter. Detachment 1 rapidly acquired a cadre of 85 personnel to man a 104-foot boat, eight 85-footers, and seven 63-footers in addition to the original FP-47. Its initial commander was First Lieutenant Phil Dickey. With the backing of influential senior officers, he set out to gather all crash rescue boats and their experienced handlers into the new unit.

In July 1952, at Itazuke Air Base, the detachment was formed into the 22nd Crash Rescue Boat Squadron. It had grown to include 31 officers and 232 airmen sailors, and included all in-theater crash boat personnel. Its strength would eventually rise to over 400 men.5th Air Force Headquarters took direct charge of the unit, leaving only administrative details to the 6160th. This makeshift arrangement led to the unit's crewmen being harassed for their unmilitary appearance and unorthodox boat repairs even as they were ill supplied with all the necessities for their tasks.