MISSION
The 57th Rescue Squadron (RQS) organizes, trains, equips, and employs Special Warfare forces to execute and enable personnel recovery and other assigned tasks in support of USEUCOM, USAFRICOM, and NATO requirements. This squadron trains, equips and employs Combat Rescue Officers (CRO), Pararescue Jumpers (PJ), Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) specialists, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) specialists and supporting personnel to conduct day and night personnel recovery operations, providing combatant commanders with options to report, locate, recover, and reintegrate isolated personnel. This mission, executed across the world, provides defense in depth for the United States of America.
MOTTO
Honor and Bravery
PERSONNEL AND RESOURCES
With an annual budget of $4.5 million, the 57th Rescue Squadron is manned by over 90 personnel. This force includes Special Warfare airmen and Combat Mission Support members, equating to around 90 active-duty and 7 civilian/contractor personnel. The squadron operates from a new $20 million, 80,000-square-foot facility that was completed after a six-year construction project.
HISTORY
Constituted as the 57th Air Rescue Squadron on October 17, 1952, the unit was activated the following month at Lajes Field, Azores. It was first assigned to the 7th Air Rescue Group (1952), and later the 9th Air Rescue Group (1955). The squadron's initial mission was to intercept and escort distressed aircraft crossing the Atlantic, in addition to performing search and rescue for downed aircraft and ships.
Reflecting the evolution of its mission to include support for the Gemini and Apollo space programs, the squadron was redesignated as the 57th Air Recovery Squadron in 1965 and then the 57th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron in 1966. The unit was inactivated in 1972 when the Portuguese Air Force assumed the mid-Atlantic rescue mission.
After a long period of inactivation, the squadron was reactivated and redesignated as the 57th Rescue Squadron on February 18, 2015, at RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom, and was assigned to the 48th Operations Group. In 2018, the squadron relocated to Aviano Air Base, Italy, and was assigned to the 31st Operations Group.
AWARDS
Meritorious Unit Award: 1 Mar 2015-29 Feb 2016. Navy Meritorious Unit Citation: 1 Jul 1967-26 Jul 1969. Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards: 1 Jun 1959-31 Dec 1963; 1 Jul 1965-30 Jun 1967; 8 Feb 1969-30 Apr 1970; 1 May 1971-30 Apr 1972; 1 Jan 2014-31 Dec 2015; 1 Jan 2020-31 Dec 2021. Air Force Rescue Squadron of the Year: 01 Jul 2024-30 Jun 2025.