USAF HC-130J Combat King II Serial 17-5870 102nd Rescue Squadron Visits Curaçao
USAF HC-130J Combat King II serial 17-5870 arrived at Curaçao's Cooperative Security Location (CSL) on September 7th 2026, making the trip south from its Long Island home at Francis S. Gabreski Airport (FOK/KFOK) in Westhampton Beach, New York. The aircraft departed on September 9th, heading South over Venezuela.
The 102nd Rescue Squadron is a unit of the New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing, based at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base on Long Island. It holds the distinction of being the oldest unit in the Air National Guard, with origins tracing back to 1915 when the 1st Aero Company was formally authorized by the governor of New York, though the unit's informal beginnings date to April 1908 when Army officers familiarized members of the New York National Guard's Signal Corps with balloon observation techniques on Long Island. Formally constituted in 1915 and active through both World Wars, the unit has undergone numerous redesignations over its history, serving variously as an observation, bombardment, fighter-interceptor, transport, air refueling and finally rescue squadron. It transitioned to its current combat search and rescue mission in 1975 and has operated the HC-130J Combat King II since 2019, alongside the HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter which entered service in 2025.
The squadron's rescue legacy includes some of the most dramatic missions in US military aviation history. In October 1991 it was directly involved in the events later immortalised as "The Perfect Storm," losing pararescueman TSgt Alden Smith, whose sacrifice is reflected in the unit's motto "That Others May Live." In December 1994 two of the squadron's HH-60 crews completed what was then the longest over-water helicopter rescue in aviation history, flying 750 miles into the Atlantic to recover a survivor from a stricken Ukrainian cargo ship. The squadron was also first on scene at the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001, and has supported every NASA Space Shuttle launch since 1988.
