[paulmcmillan]

From

Leave No Man Behind: The Saga of Combat Search and Rescue
By George Galdorisi, Thomas Phillips -- August 21st 1932

Page 25

On August 21, 1932, another marine airplane was lost in bad weather
over the jungle. Unable to find a landing site, and finally out of fuel,
the three crewmen bailed out, landing in an area of tall trees.
The next day, seven planes began a search that found the three
parachutes in the treetops (but never the crash site, which was
swallowed up by the jungle). There was no way an airplane
could land nearby to make the rescue. Mindful of the fate of
other airmen who fell into the hands of the Sandinistas, the
crews of the search planes coordinated the rendezvous of the
downed aviators, and a ground patrol was sent to their relief,
using message-bag drops of directions to both groups. The
rendezvous was accomplished before the Sandinistas could interfere.
The ground party, guided by relays of aircraft overhead,
marched to a suitable area of a nearby river for pickup by
amphibious planes. Ahead of their time by almost a half-century,
the marines demonstrated the complexities and the attendant rewards
of aircraft coordination with ground rescue forces—coordination that
would become another staple of combat search and rescue as it
evolved in the second half of the century.


The three airmen involved were

1st Lt. Clovis C. Coffman Marine Corps
Gunnery Sgt. Walter E. Schofield Marine Corps,
Corporal Raymond E. Townsend Marine Corps,

and I believe the aircraft lost was Loening OL-9 A8985 which was written off on this date in Nicaragua but again I would like confirmation

Thanks

Paul