Biomedical Aspects of Aircraft Escape and Survival under Combat Conditions

Detailed event conditions and, to the extent possible, specific medical injury data now have been collected for Navy aircrewmen who ejected and were recovered, or became Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia. Initial analyses (previously reported) show the combat ejection, and consequently the associated injuries, to be appreciably more severe than encountered during non-combat operations. Additional analyses now have been conducted, primarily with repatriated Navy Prisoners of War, to establish some precise cause and effect injury relationships associated with high speed escape. The effect of escape injuries on subsequent evasion and survival is examined. Special attention is given to the effectiveness of escape, personal protective, and life support equipment. The adequacy of this equipment is evaluated in terms of an individual's injury condition and his success in using such equipment under the arduous conditions of combat escape, survival, rescue and capture. Presented at Annual Scientific Meeting - Aerospace Medical Association, 1976.