HMX-1 PVC Patch – Hook and Loop

A 4″ HMX-1 PVC Patch – Hook and Loop

Active December 1, 1947 – present
Country United States of America
Branch United States Marine Corps
Type Medium Helicopter Squadron
Role VIP Transport
Operational Testing and Evaluation
Part of Headquarters Marine Corps
Garrison/HQ Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico
Nickname(s) “The Nighthawks”, “Marine One”

Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), is a United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron responsible for the transportation of the President of the United States, Vice President, Cabinet members and other VIPs. A Marine helicopter which has the President aboard uses the call sign “Marine One”. In addition to its VIP transport role, it is also tasked with operational test and evaluation of new flight systems for Marine Corps helicopters. Nicknamed “Nighthawks”, they are headquartered at Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico, Virginia, and maintain detachments at Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling in Washington, D.C. and Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility in Maryland.

In 1946 General Roy S. Geiger observed the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll and instantly recognized that atomic bombs could render amphibious landings difficult because of the dense concentrations of troops, ships and material at the beachhead. The Commandant of the Marine Corps convened a special board, the Hogaboom Board, that recommended that the Marine Corps develop transport helicopters in order to allow a more diffuse attack on enemy shores. It also recommended that they stand up an experimental helicopter squadron. HMX-1 was commissioned on December 1, 1947 and based in MCAS Quantico, Virginia because of its relative proximity to the Sikorsky and Piasecki plants in Connecticut, and to the Marine Corps schools where most of the original personnel would come. They operated the Sikorsky HO3S-1 and the Piasecki HRP-1 and saw their first test of capabilities in May of that year when five squadron aircraft transported 66 Marines from the deck of the USS Palau (CVE-122) to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. While the test aircraft could only carry three Marines each and required multiple trips, it did indicate the possibilities of the concept.[1] In 1948 the Marine Corps Schools came out with Amphibious Operations – Employment of Helicopters (Tentative) or Phib-31 which was the first manual for airmobile operations. The Marines used the term “vertical envelopment” instead of “air mobility” or “air assault”. HMX-1 performed the first ship-to-shore movement of troops from the deck of an aircraft carrier in an exercise in May 1948.[2]

After the start of the Korean War, four HMX-1 helicopters were attached to VMO-6 and sent to help the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade at the Battle of Pusan Perimeter in 1950. They were used for battlefield observation and control as well as medical evacuation and the rescue of fliers.[3] During the Chosin campaign they were used for liaison between the different Marine units strung along the western edge of the Chosin Reservoir. The requirements of the Korean War exceeded the Navy’s training requirement thus HMX-1 was pressed into service as a training command for the first few years of the war. They trained the nucleus of pilots that would form HMR-161, the first Marine helicopter transport squadron.

On September 7, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was vacationing at his summer home in Newport, Rhode Island, when his immediate presence was needed at the White House. The President was required at the White House to deal with the “Little Rock Nine” crisis stemming from Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus ordering the Arkansas National Guard to block black students from attending Central High School. President Eisenhower responded by sending the 101st Airborne into Little Rock to enforce the Brown