Home » Health » The F-111 Fighter Jet was Used to Transport a Donor Heart Across the Country in Two Hours. The Heart Came from Oklahoma and Was Transferred to New York City.
F-111 Fighter Jet was Used to Transport a Donor Heart Across the Country

The F-111 Fighter Jet was Used to Transport a Donor Heart Across the Country in Two Hours. The Heart Came from Oklahoma and Was Transferred to New York City.

Valentine’s Day is typically associated with matters of the heart, but on February 14th, 1986. Sending a Valentine’s Day gift took on a new meaning when a man from New York needed a heart from Oklahoma. But how did the US Air Force help with this ordeal?

When a man in New York needed a heart transplant from an Oklahoma donor, the hospital contacted the US Air Force for assistance with transportation. An F-111 fighter jet flew the donor heart across the country in two hours. The operation went off without a hitch.

Fighter Plane for Ambulance

Richard Reinhardt, 46, of Pine Plains, New York, desperately needed a heart transplant. And the most important news was delivered on this particular day. A heart had become available in Oklahoma, and Richard had been identified as a possible recipient. 

That is until Hartford Hospital realized that a chartered private jet would take too long to travel the required distance. A heart can only be viable for 3 1/2 hours before a transplant operation must be performed. Someone had to think quickly if Richard was to have any chance of survival.

The impossible happened that day when someone reached out to the US Air Force for assistance, setting massive gears in motion with a communication sent to the 509th Bombardment Wing Strategic Air Command Facility at Pease AFB in New Hampshire.

The unlikely solution came in the form of two Fb-111 supersonic strategic nuclear weapons capable of multirole combat fighter jets, which would normally be on alert or a low-level deep penetration training mission on a normal day.

Two FB-111s scheduled for a training flight to Norfolk were reassigned and rebranded as the world’s fastest medevac service with a new mission to Oklahoma.

The Air Force assigned the second FB-111 as an emergency backup in case the lead aircraft suffered a mechanical failure and could not complete the journey.

Two supersonic fighter bombers scrambled for higher altitude as their afterburners lit up the sky, wings sweeping aft, accelerating faster than the sound itself, westbound on their one-of-a-kind mission of hope. The medical transplant team hurriedly prepared in Oklahoma for their quick arrival at Tinker Air Force Base. (Source: Sierra Hotel)

Saving the Heart Mission, A Success Story

The two FB-111s were already on standby when the heart arrived at the Air Force Base in the middle of the night. Crews in Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command are used to standing on alert until the klaxon sounds, ready to spring into action at any moment. Scramble Alerts and Minimum Interval Take-Offs, these crews were used to moving quickly, but today they needed to move even faster.

According to Lt. Steve Solmonson, a public affairs officer at Pease AFB, the two supersonic fighter bombers arrived at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks at 5 AM, and the heart was quickly transferred into an awaiting ambulance that immediately set off for Hartford Hospital.

The mission and operation were both a complete success, with transplant recipient Richard Reinhardt of Pine Plains, New York, doing well after his life-saving surgery at Hartford Hospital. The crews quietly celebrated another successful mission as the engines on the air force jets cooled in the morning air. (Source: Sierra Hotel)

Image from TaskAndPurpose

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