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Show Moss Co-sponsors Bill To Continue Air Rescue Service Senator Frank E. Moss this week announced that he is co-sponsoring co-sponsoring a bill to maintain the Air Rescue Service of the Air Force. Current plans call for cutting back the service in the zone of interior from six squadrons to two, one stationed at Hawaii and one at Florida. The bill would establish bylaw by-law a service tha is now maintained main-tained by the Air Force. Senator Moss said, "Our wide areas and rugged terrain make an air rescue service important to Utah and the entire West. Considering the rapid growth in private flying it does not seem that units stationed at Florida and Hawaii could possibly cover the needs of the Western United States and Alaska. "Of course, it is always desirable desir-able to reduce expenses by eliminating elimi-nating expendable services and perhaps air rescue can be handled han-dled through some other facility at lower cost, but we in Utah must carefully consider the effects ef-fects of the elimination of Texas and California air rescue groups of the Air Force. This bill will get all of the facts before the Congress." It states that the mission' of the Air Rescue Service is "to provide, maintain, and operate search and rescue facilities for the purpose of rendering assistance assist-ance to persons who are in distress dis-tress as the result of military and non military aircraft accidents." The service is directed to cooperate co-operate with other rescue service, serv-ice, including the United States Coast Guard. By mid-year the Air Force proposes pro-poses to inactivate air rescue squadrons at the following: El-mandorf El-mandorf Base, Alaska; Hamilton Air Force Base, California; Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts; and Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas. |
