Midlands Air Ambulance - History so far

History so far

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Patient numbers heads skyward
Our first flying mission was on 27th May 1991, when the aircraft was scrambled to a mountainside near Hay on Wye in Powys. Flight crews airlifted a woman from the London area after she fell and suffered spinal injuries. The patient was stabilised before being airlifted to Hereford Hospital and according to media reports of the time, it took just 19 minutes to arrive at the scene from our base at Halfpenny Green Airport and 6 minutes to reach the hospital.

An old aircraft in action in a city - hovering over a city road, full colour image

The Charity reached a milestone when it completed its 20,000 flying mission in November 2005. In June 2007, that number had risen to 25,000 and each year we see a steady increase in the number of missions flown by our three aircraft.

In May 1995 the Charity extended its operating hours to ten hours, seven days a week. The number of flying hours has been reviewed ever since and routinely the Charity provides a 16-hour service during the summer months and 12-hours in the winter.

A helicopter in the air, photo taken from another aircraft, full colour image

New fundraising heights
County Air Ambulance, now known as Midlands Air Ambulance, depends on funding from the general public and local businesses. Since 1991, the Charity has set a fundraising target in order to finance the service. In the 1990’s the fundraising target was £3 million. That sum was later increased to £3.6 million and in 2007 the target was further increased to £6 million to take account of additional running costs and clinical improvements to the service.

Download the FULL HISTORY document here (PDF).

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