Medical Support of Combat Operations and Naval Air Force Losses in the Great Patriotic War

The paper addresses the contribution of the Naval Air Force and its medical service to the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Organizational and staff structure, medical support of combat operations, the dynamics, level and structure of operational attrition and non-battle sanitary losses of the Naval Air Force air and ground crews are studied by categories and by the periods of the war, including the major operations, separately for each fleet. Detailed analysis of the experience of search and rescue operations and aeromedical evacuation as specific components of the medical service of the Naval Air Force is presented. The management procedures of medical supplies and recreation of the air crews to prevent their exhaustion are studied. For instance, since it was impossible to provide professional and specialized medical aid to the wounded from the fleet air force units, it had to be provided at the naval and combined-arms levels of medical evacuation. Only a small number of air base infirmaries were staffed by qualified surgeons. Difficulties in organizing the medical supplies were caused by frequent movements of air force units, often in the closest vicinity to the enemy; and also, by the lack of special unified medical packs. Based on the experience of medical support for search and rescue operations, the most effective search and rescue of flight personnel was organized using water-planes. During the war, naval aviation pilots evacuated thousands of wounded people to the rear of the country. The specifics of the fleet aviation missions characterize the structure of sanitary losses and their ratio to the irretrievable losses of flying personnel during the four years of the war. Due to a significant combat load on the pilots, the command was obliged to organize their rehabilitation in the form of short-term vacation at adapted recreation centers. Based on the information available from literature and archive sources, the successful experience and faults in the medical support of the combat missions of the Air Force as the striking component of the Navy during the Great Patriotic War are analyzed, and respective detailed conclusions are made.