HMX-1 is the United States Marine Corps Squadron designated to provide helicopter transport to the White House for the President, Vice-President, Cabinet Members, VIP’s and other dignitaries.
Located at Marine Corps Base (MCB) Quantico in Northern Virginia, HMX -1 is the greatest squadron in the Marine Corps. It’s tasking in three primary areas and therefore has commitments and fulfills roles that other squadrons don’t.
Along with Presidential transport, HMX-1 is the only squadron in the Marine Corps that performs Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) of helicopter systems for the Fleet Marine Force (FMF). Which means that the pilots and engineers at Quantico determine if existing and new systems work as per their design specifications and then determine the easiest way to employ these systems.
HMX-1 also offers a next function. The squadron supports the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) at Quantico. The MCCDC is accountable for developing and implementing helicopter tactics and providing helicopter support for training evolutions at the base.
HMX-1 was the very first helicopter squadron established by the Marine Corps. It absolutely was formed after Marine General Roy Geiger witnessed the atomic test detonation at Bikini atoll. General Geiger theorized that future amphibious landings could be jeopardized by the atomic bomb and a technique was needed to diffuse troops, which avoided the loss of a complete concentrated force because of an atomic blast. The Commandant of that time period, General Alexander A. Vandergrift convened the Hogeboom board to review the issue and recommend solutions. The board recommended the development and utilization of helicopters to mitigate the threat.
HVX-1 was commissioned in December 1947. The decision to base the squadron in Quantico was a results of attempting to be close to the two helicopter manufacturers that the Corps used, Sikorsky and Piasecki and to be close to the Marine Corps Schools at Quantico where all the squadron personnel would come from.
The very first helicopters assigned to HMX-1 were the Sikorsky HO3S-1 and the Piasecki HRP-1. During its first amphibious helicopter evaluation exercise, 5 HMX-1 helicopters flew 66 marines from the USS Palau (an escort carrier commissioned in 1946) to MCB Camp Lejeune on the coast of North Carolina.
The very first presidential helicopter flight, though not scheduled, occurred in 1957. Up to speed was President Dwight D. Eisenhower who previously had been at his summer home in Rhode Island when his presence was needed at the White House. The ferry ride from his home across Narragansett Bay would take an hour accompanied by a flight on Air Force Someone to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland then a 20-minute car ride from Andrews to the White House. President Eisenhower’s aide learned a helicopter used for emergency purposes was stationed at Rhode Island and will be available to make the seven-minute flight over the bay to Air Force One. That flight in a HMX-1 Sikorsky H-34 Seahorse began a convention that now includes the VH-71A Kestrel.
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