Royal Air Force Search and Rescue

The RAF has its own Search and Rescue Force (SARF), which is ready to respond 24 hours a day. It covers the whole of the UK – and beyond.

Their primary role is to recover RAF personnel, but in peacetime, the majority of callouts are to civilian incidents. In an average year, the Search and Rescue Force can expect to respond to more than a thousand callouts. Like all emergency services, the type of incident varies tremendously. It could be anything from rescuing a group of lost hill walkers to large-scale operations such as the floods in Gloucestershire, Sheffield and Cockermouth or the Virgin train de-railment at Greyrigg; each day brings a new challenge. With every callout, teams have to be quick-thinking and resourceful because lives can depend on it.

UK Search and Rescue

We have six Search and Rescue flights in the UK. These work alongside four civilian coastguard and two Royal Navy flights to form a unified national Search and Rescue service. We work together to ensure that no area in the UK is more than one hour’s flight away in daylight. At night we can get to anywhere in the country in less than one-and-a-half hours.

International Search and Rescue

Our flights also work internationally: we operate in Cyprus (84 Squadron) and the Falkland Islands (1564 Flight). These teams, like their colleagues at home, can respond to man-made crises and natural disasters all over the world at any time of day or night.

Mountain Rescue Service

The four RAF Mountain Rescue Teams are normally based at RAF Kinloss, near Inverness; Leuchars, near St Andrews; Leeming, in Yorkshire; and RAF Valley in North Wales. Each team has 8 full-time personnel and up to 28 RAF volunteers. The RAF volunteers get trained in their spare time.

All team members have excellent fitness, so they can search large areas of land without getting tired. Together, the RAF personnel and RAF volunteers make a highly trained, skilled and well-equipped team.