Wright Patt C-17 flies Indiana rescuers to Puerto Rico after hurricane

A Wright-Patt Air Force Reserve C-17 jet flew members of the Indiana Task Force 1 recovery team to Puerto Rico on Saturday after the island was hit hard by Hurricane Maria last week, according to a wing spokeswoman.

It marked the second time a C-17 from the Miami Valley base transported a state-based rescue and recovery team to the Caribbean island which has endured the winds and rain of two hurricanes within weeks.

Earlier this month, a C-17 picked up members of New York Task Force 1 in Georgia and transported the team to San Juan, P.R., after powerful Hurricane Irma churned through the Atlantic Ocean, brushing near the island.

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With an active hurricane season under way, the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson was on standby this week, according to Lt. Col. Cynthia Harris, a wing spokeswoman.

“Our crew is on alert awaiting other missions,” she said Monday. The unit has nine Globemaster III jets which are on ongoing routine assignments around the world, she said.

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The Indiana unit arrived at Wright-Patterson last week before the flight headed to Dover Air Force Base, Del., where members of Maryland Task Force 1 joined the team, and then headed to Puerto Rico, according to the Indiana unit’s Facebook page.

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The Wright-Patt airlift wing has flown hundreds of responders and tons of hurricane relief aid to Texas, Florida, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico the past month since a series of record-setting hurricanes struck the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Caribbean causing dozens of deaths and unleashing widespread destruction in its wake.

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