Marine Helicopter Squadron-1 (HMX-1) Nighthawks
Marine Helicopter Squadron-1 (HMX-1) is the only organization responsible for direct helicopter support of the White House. HMX-1 is the sole helicopter transport squadron for the president of the United States, and stands alone in its role of testing and evaluating helicopter systems for the Fleet Marine Force. Unlike any other unit in the Marine Corps, HMX-1 has three distinct chains of command. The Marine Corps Deputy Chief of Staff for Aviation issues orders for all tasks that HMX-1 executes in conjunction with Marine Corps activities, while the White House Military Office directs the squadron’s presidential missions. The squadron’s OT&E Department reports to Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force, Norfolk, VA.
HMX-1’s greatest distinction may be its special place in history as the first U.S. Marine Corps helicopter squadron ever established. The establishment of HMX-1 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), Quantico, Va., on 01 December 1947 started a revolution in Marine Corps aviation and tactical doctrine. On 23 May 1948, the first airborne ship-to-shore movement began at Onslow Beach, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The first wave of the assault commenced with all five HO3S-1s taking off from Palau and arriving 30 minutes later in the land-ing zone. HMX-1 pilots made continuous flights, putting 66 Marines in the right place at the right time. With the helicopter firmly entrenched in Marine warfighting doctrine, HMX-1’s mission evolved into developmental testing of new helicopter systems and products destined for the Fleet Marine Force.
With over 700 personnel assigned, HMX-1 is the largest permanently formed aircraft squadron in the Marine Corps. Accordingly, it incorporates some departments not usually found in a squadron. As the only aviation unit assigned to MCAF Quantico, HMX-1 has a dedicated fiscal and aviation supply department, and its safety and standardization department is similar to that found in a composite helicopter squadron with several different types of aircraft. The major divisions within the unit are: Administration, Operations, Logistics, Safety & Standardization, White House Liaison Office, Executive Alert Facility, Plans, Security, Communications, Fiscal, Aviation Supply, Operational Test & Evaluation, Whiteside and Greenside. HMX-1 responds directly to the White House Military Office (WHMO) for Distinguished Visitor (DV) Code 1 and Code 2 helicopter support taskings. HMX-1 does not have secondary tasking authority; if it requires fixed wing or helicopter general support aircraft as it carries out its direct support tasking, it requests that support from WHMO. WHMO procedures are to pass such secondary taskings to appropriate authorities in DoD.
In addition to its executive transport and OT&E missions, HMX-1 also supports the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) at Marine Corps Air Facility (MCAF), Quantico in the development of helicopter tactics and techniques. HMX-1’s CH-46Es and CH-53Es provide helicopter indoctrination training for new combat ground Marines and support advanced training, such as fast-roping exercises. MCCDC maintains a training facility called “Combat Town,” where HMX-1 Marines par-ticipate in the training of assault troops in hostage rescue scenarios.
During Presidential support missions, HMX-1 often requires Air Mobility Command (AMC) fixed wing support, the Phoenix Banner missions. For overseas Presidential trips, HMX-1 flies VH-3D or VH-60N helicopters to Andrews AFB, Maryland where C-5 strategic airlifters can transport them to a forward operating base. Up to three aircraft can be lifted in a C-5B. For such long distance missions, HMX-1 would also require airlift for its logistics and personnel. Fixed wing support normally entails flights to and from military air bases or civil airports with major runways and substantial ground support facilities, including instrument flight navigation aids. At the forward operating base, helicopters transported by C-5B must be reassembled and conduct post-maintenance inspection flights as well as a five hours "penalty" flight to ensure safe materiel condition. At all forward bases, helicopters tasked for actual missions must conduct exact rehearsals one day prior to the Presidential lift.
HMX-1 provided the first Presidential lift aboard a rotary wing aircraft to President Eisenhower in 1957. On 07 September 1957 President Dwight D. Eisenhower was vacationing at his summer home in Newport, RI, when his immediate presence was required at the White House. Typically, a return trip to Washington, DC, from Rhode Island required an hour-long ferry ride across Narragansett Bay to the awaiting presidential transport, Air Force One, followed by a 45-minute flight to Andrews AFB, MD, and a 20-minute motorcade ride to the White House. Recognizing the urgent need for his presence in Washington, President Eisenhower directed his aide to find a way to get him to Air Force One more quickly. The aide informed the president that a helicopter was on station in Rhode Island in case of an emergency and could be used to fly him to the awaiting plane. President Eisenhower approved the idea, setting a precedent with the seven-minute trip in an HMX-1 UH-34 Seahorse.
Shortly thereafter, the president’s naval aide asked HMX-1 to evaluate the possibility of landing a helicopter on the south lawn of the White House. Preliminary evaluations and test flights determined that there was ample room for a safe landing and departure. Once formal procedures were finalized, HMX-1 began flying the president to and from the south lawn of the White House to Andrews AFB, the home of Air Force One. Until 1976, the executive rotary wing mission was shared with the Army. In that year, HMX-1 was designated the sole source of rotary wing support for the President and those other missions tasked by the WHMO. Since its commissioning in 1948, HMX-1 has flown over 273,500 flight hours. Over its history, no mishap has occurred during a Presidential lift mission. Only three aircraft have been involved in Class A mishaps since HMX-1 assumed the sole provider role for Presidential support. After two aircraft were lost to mechanical failures in the early 1960's, the Squadron went without a Class A mishap for more than the next quarter century.
Three Class A mishaps occurred in the 1990s --one each in the VH-3D (FY91), the VH-60N (FY93), and the CH-46E (FY96). Only the first two of these aircraft are authorized to transport the President (although he has recently ridden in CH-46E aircraft at the direction of the WHMO). Only minor injuries occurred in the VH-3D and CH-46E mishaps, and in fact the VH-3D aircraft was repaired and is still in service today within Naval aviation. Both of these mishaps occurred on the ground, rather than in flight. The VH-60N was lost, along with its aircrew, as a result of a maintenance error.
HMX has two separate and distinct maintenance departments. The first is called the Executive Flight Detachment (the "Whiteside" -- a reference to the paint scheme for the tops of Presidential support aircraft or a reference to the fact that all assets and materiel are kept within the confines of a high fence, with no unauthorized access permitted). The Whiteside simply stated, supports aircraft dedicated to White House Mission. The second, called Marine Corps Aircraft Maintenance (within the squadron commonly known as the "Greenside" -- a reference to the aircraft paint scheme again or a reference here is to a cargo or "Stake" trucks). These are the "no frills" fleet aircraft which are assigned to HMX-1 and which fly in support, testing, and transport roles other than executive lift.
Specific Military Occupational Specialties (MOSs) do not exist for the VH-3D since the training is done by a contractor, rather than the military. Personnel who are assigned to operate and maintain the VH-3D are selected from the population of regular marine forces aviation personnel and have no previous experience on this platform. Personnel are specifically recruited for HMX-1 and usually spend a year on the Greenside while intensive background investigations are conducted by the appropriate Department of Defense agencies. Once personnel are given appropriate clearance and access, they are eligible for transfer to the Whiteside.
Squadron manpower policies and procedures are keyed to the most demanding and important missions of Executive Helicopter Transport and Contingency Support. The most qualified personnel available, officer and enlisted, are assigned to billets that directly support these two primary tasks. No matter where assigned, all Marines associated with these missions must obtain both a Top Secret clearance through a Defense Investigative Service Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI) and Yankee White Access through approval by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. These clearance requirements may take up to a year to complete, have high standards for approval, and influence personnel assignment at HMX-1 more than any other fact. In the mid-1990s approximately 15-20 percent of assigned personnel were unable to obtain the ultimately required "Yankee White" Clearance from the WHMO and the Department of the Navy. Those who cannot be cleared for "Yankee White" access is that they must all remain on the Greenside. This impacts the normal flow of personnel from Greenside/Whiteside.
After initial field screening of personnel, a clearance package is developed and submitted to the Defense Investigative Service which conducts the SSBI required for Top Secret clearance. The completed SSBI is submitted to the Department of the Navy Central Adjudication Facility which grants the TS clearance. The approved package is then returned to HMX-1 Security for review and recommendations for Yankee White access. After a positive recommendation, the package is forwarded to the Secretary of the Navy White House Liaison Office, where a final review is conducted, and then to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for final Yankee White access approval. This entire process takes from six months to a year and, once begun, delays are rare.
To provide the necessary "cleared" manpower base, every Marine assigned to HMX-1 must be prepared to eventually occupy a billet associated with Executive missions and, in reality, most billets in the squadron have some degree of association with those missions. Individuals who fail to qualify for a Top Secret or Yankee White clearance while assigned to HMX-1, or those whose clearances are revoked, cannot be assigned to most billets in the unit and, as a result, effectively decrease the personnel base on which the squadron depends.
As of 1996 HMX-1 had a total of nineteen aircraft in the "VH" configuration which are authorized to transport the President and for tasking by the WHMO. This number includes eleven VH-3D and eight VH-60N airframes. By virtue of the highly controlled and structured missions of both executive transport and emergency evacuation, aircraft configuration is extremely tightly controlled for VH aircraft, and no "non-standard" installations of parts or equipment is permitted.
HMX-1 has a current PAA of 6 CH-46E's, and 6 CH-53E's. Actual "on-hand" assets include (6) CH-46E aircraft; (4) CH-53E aircraft; (4) CH-53D aircraft; and 1 UH-1N (on loan for operational test and evaluation (OT&E) purposes only. The eventual retirement of the CH-53D assets and the procurement of new CH-53E airframes was ongoing in the early 1990s. Following 1996 operational peak occasioned by the presidential elections, the final CH-53D aircraft was gone from HMX-1.
