BLACKIE'S GANG
THE STORY OF SEARCH AND RESCUE ON THE HUMP
The downed pilots of the Korean Conflict, Viet Nam, and the Persian Gulf War owe a huge debt of thanks to Capt. John "Blackie" Porter and what was learned about search and rescue on the HUMP. It was through the efforts of Captain Porter and an incident involving CBS war correspondent Eric Severied that Search and Rescue became recognized as a viable segment of any operation where there might be the loss of pilots and air crews.
A little bit about Captain Porter....He earned his nickname legitimately. He had thick locks of jet black hair. On the ground, Captain Porter was quiet and reserved, almost to the point of being considered shy. His demeanor was quiet and gentle. In the air, it was a totally different story. He was a real dare-devil, not afraid to take chances, even to the point of scaring the daylights out of new crew members. One, who once complained that they were awfully close to the waters of the Brahmaputra River, was told "we all want to live". And the low level flying continued. It was believed that John Porter harbored a deep hatred for the Japanese, who he blamed for the death of his brother. In actuality, his brother died accidentally in the Mediteranean theater. But it does explain his actions on more than one occassion. Captain Porter and one of his crews were credited with a kill of a Japanese Zero. On November 6, 1943, on a S&R mission, they came across a Japanese Zero on the ground, evidentally low or out of fuel and waiting for re-supply. Using two machine guns borrowed from the British, Porter and crew straffed the Zero until it burst into flames and the pilot was killed. His C-47 was the only transport class plane to sport a Japanese flag under the cockpit window indicating a kill. He was also known to have straffed Japanese encampments and truck convoys while on S&R missions.
On October 25, 1943, Search and Rescue became officially a part of the Army Air Corps. At that time, Captain John Porter was named the Sector Air Rescue Officer for the Eastern Wing of theater operations. At that time, the team consisted of him and three other pilots, and about 10 enlisted men. By Spring, their numbers had grown to around 44, and their planes had increased from a single C-47 to 2 C-47's, 2 B-25 Mitchell Bombers, and several L-5 light liason planes.
Blackie's Gang was responsible for a number of innovations in Search & Rescue. They developed means of establishing communications with the downed flyers by dropping messages attached to yellow streamers. These messages contained instructions on how to improvise ground panels to communicate with the pilots. They also dropped supplies to surviving air crews daily while they were walking out. In other instences, they guided ground rescue teams to the downed aviators to assist in the rescue.
Search and rescue units worked closely with Wing Intelligence. It was the Intelligence units that supplied personnel for the ground rescue parties. They improvised signalling devices and put together jungle survival kits which were dropped to the downed flyers. They also established contacts with local tribes to enlist their aid in locating and returning the downed flyers to allied bases. S & R units recruited a network of volunteer air medics who would parachute into the jungle or mountains to give aid to severly injured flyers. A system was developed for constructing small air strips that could be used by the small L-5 aircraft and they were then used to evacuate severely injured crew members. This ability also led to the occassional use of S & R units for covert activities such as landing or extracating agents from behind Japanese lines.
"Blackie" Porter was killed on Dec. 10, 1943, when the B-25 he was flying on a Search and Rescue mission was attacked and shot down by Japanese fighters. His co-pilot, John Spain, bailed out at around 500 feet before the plane hit the ground. Spain survived and walked out of the jungle a month later.