Phantom Rescue: The True-Life Story of Aviation Rescue Swimmer Kelly Mogk-Larson
In honor of women’s history this month I am releasing the story I am calling Phantom Rescue: The True-Life Story of Coast Guard Aviation Rescue Swimmer Kelly Mogk-Larson
It’s the early morning of January 3, 1989, and Air National Guard flight officer’s 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller and 1st Lieutenant Mark A. Baker from the 123rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron, The Redhawk’s, begin their preflight inspection of the Vietnam era F4C Phantom 2 fighter jet they were assigned. They are one of two flights taking off for a routine military training mission. The smell of jet fuel is in the cold windy air as they fire up their F4 Phantoms.
It’s a routine morning for the Air National Guard pilots from the Oregon National Guard. As part of their preflight briefing they are informed that the air temperature is near freezing, 33° Fahrenheit, or 0.5° Celsius, with high winds, 18 to 20 mph, or 29 to 32 kmh, with gusts up to 25 mph or 40 kmh, and a cloud deck at 15,000 feet, or 4500 meters, with a 100 foot, or 30 meter, ceiling for takeoff.
As part of today’s flight operation, their training mission is combat flight maneuvers, or in aviation terminology, dog fighting.
The flight was proceeding as expected. While conducting basic flight maneuvers, all conditions were normal, when suddenly, the engine failed at 18,000 feet. The pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller, reported a catastrophic engine failure, specifically a compressor stall, followed by an unrecoverable fire and loss of control. In the F-4C, an engine fire at that altitude and air speed can quickly compromise the hydraulic lines, rendering the aircraft a "flying brick." The pilot, 2nd Lt. Michael G. Markstaller attempts to eject, but the ejection isn’t working. He calls out to his WSO (weapons officer), 1st Lt. Baker, who then pulls the ejection handle, initiating a dual sequence ejection, throwing them both violently into the air away from their aircraft. The force of the ejection, throwing 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller out of the F4 phantom. As he exits the cockpit it breaks his right arm and breaks his left leg and he severely separates his shoulder. Then automatic chute deploys and sends 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller with a jerk as the parachute deploys and he descends through the 15,000-foot cloud layer unable to see anything till he hits 100 feet where the cloud layer breaks and he splashes into the frigid 50° ocean. The survival rate at this temperature is very low.
Their wingman in the second F4 confirms seeing two parachutes deploy but loses sight of the two aviators as they enter the cloud layer at 15,000 feet.
This is the true-life story of Coast Guard, Aviation Survivalman, and Rescue Swimmer Kelly Mogk.
Petty Officer Kelly Mogk later became known as Kelly Mogk-Larson. For this story, I’ll refer to her by her name at the time: Kelly Mogk. Petty Officer Kelly Mogk graduated from Aviation Rescue Swimmer program the same year I did, 1986. So even though she was a Coast Guard Aviation Rescue Swimmer, she graduated when the Coast Guard relied on the Navy’s Aviation Rescue Swimmer program in Pensacola Florida.
This was back when it was the real deal, the instructors still put their hands on you. Training was life or death. We trained worst case scenarios. Some of the men with the biggest bravado quit just seeing what the training in the pool was like. There were two female candidates in my class, they were held to the exact brutal standards as the men. I could argue they may have had it harder as they attracted the attention of the instructors. Just like myself and other candidates, you are constantly told you are not good enough, you’ll never make it. And to some candidates that’s enough to get in their head and convince them to quit. But the thought of quitting was never a thought that crossed Mogk’s mind. She knew she was going to make it. In a public interview with LaGuardia-Kotite she was quoted as saying “What gave me my determination was everybody telling me I was going to fail.”
You are in grueling conditions where you could lose your life. The attrition rate for Navy aviation rescue swimmers was and still is higher than for the Navy SEALs buds training. This was the same year we lost a swimmer candidate during training. This was the year they still did what was called “sharks and daisies” an exercise in water fighting maneuvers that was later banned. So, anybody who made it through this program back then was a true bad ass. This is the story of Petty Officer Kelly Mogk’s most documented rescue. Petty Officer Kelly Mogk embodies the Silent Service code of the Navy and Coast Guard Aviation Rescue Swimmer and that’s why I want to spread her story and awareness about this community.
At the Astoria Oregon Coast Guard Air Station The call comes in. They immediately deployed two Alert status HH65 Dolphin rescue helicopters. The crew for both search and rescue helicopters scramble, grabbing their gear and getting to the alert helicopters. An “alert helo” is a helicopter that has had a pre-flight inspection completed and is on the tarmac in one of three alert statuses, 5-, 15-, or 30-minute alert status. In 5-minute alert, the engines are running, the crew is on board, but the helicopter’s rotor blades are not spinning. In 15-minute alert status the helo is on the tarmac ready to start and the crew is standing at the ready, or sitting, in the ready room, or also known as the flight briefing room. 15-minute alert is the most likely status of the crews when the call comes in.
Petty Officer, Kelly Mogk grabs her SAR bag with her rubbers in it, her dry suit, her fins, her mask, her rescue harness and her SAR One survival vest. As she runs to the helo and once aboard the helicopter, Petty Officer Mogk has every possible scenario running through her head as she gathers the information while she’s also donning her gear.
The rescue helo takes off and at 115 knots they begin the flight directly to the scene in the North Pacific Ocean about 100 miles off the coast of Portland Oregon. In route, rescue helicopter number one suffers a rescue hoist failure and is forced to return to base. This now makes the second helo with rescue swimmer, Kelly Mogk, at the ready, the primary rescue helicopter.
Aboard the helicopter, the rescue swimmer only has minutes to prep while also donning the dry suit for these severe temperatures. Finally putting on her rescue fins and scooting to the cargo door entrance, the sound of the helicopter’s turbine engines and rotor, screaming in the swimmers unprotected ears as she waits and is ready for deployment. Rushing through the swimmer’s head is every possible scenario based on the information that came in over the ICS radio, Inflight Communication System, that could possibly be going on while they get on scene.
The first crewman and swimmer stationed at the cargo door spot the first survivor it’s obvious they are tangled and under their parachute.
The helicopter enters a rescue hover pattern. Kelly and the first crewman see the first survivor as they look out the cargo door and approach the survivor coming to a hover above him. The swimmer feels three firm taps on her shoulder, and the first crewman hollers “JUMP, JUMP, JUMP!” The swimmer makes one final look out the cargo door and below her to confirm she is not jumping onto any debris, then she jumps! The helo crew deployed the swimmer at 15 feet into 20-foot swells with waves capping at two to three feet.
The frigid water sends the body into an automatic physiological response that you can’t help but your focus is on the rescue. You don’t take your eyes off the survivor as you approach and you’re assessing the situation. Petty Officer Mogk realizes the pilot is tangled in his parachute with his raft inflated. Her training kicks in. This is straight out of rescue swimmer school training; a pilot trapped in his parachute at risk of being drug underwater.
She immediately goes into rescue procedures. She dives under the waves and below the survivor and at 120 pounds she holds this 200-pound man above her as she’s under the water holding her breath and detangling him from his parachute. This wasn’t an easy task. She struggled against these parachute lines, ripping and cutting them away from the broken body of Lieutenant Mark Stoller.
When clearing a survivor from a collapsed parachute in the ocean is extremely dangerous for the survivor and the rescuer. The parachute is at risk of being filled with water and acting as a sea anchor pulling the survivor under the water or through the current. So, in this case the rescue swimmer dives under the parachute and the survivor, she grabbed the survivor from underneath the water by his flight suit. With one arm she grips his suit and harness along the length of his spine. She works from head to toe using her free arm and hand to sweep along the survivor’s body. She works to free the lines and the parachute from the survivor’s head, then arms, then legs. This requires coming up for air many times and holding your breath for over a minute each time. Sometimes for a couple minutes and longer as you keep sweeping the body freeing it from the entangled parachute.
For 60 minutes she did this, struggling against the battering of waves and frigid water temperatures with hypothermia setting in. She must get him out of the water soon, but her hands are getting numb. She even takes her gloves off to help in detangling the parachute lines from the legs and body. She keeps working and keeps working. “At one point halfway through I reached over and squeezed his hand and he squeezed back. That was a good sign.” “I kept talking to him to let him know that someone was there.”
The HH-65 Dolphin battles 20-foot swells. The rotor wash creates a blinding mist of saltwater. Below, ASM3 KELLY MOGK is a tiny speck of orange against a charcoal-gray ocean.
After 60 minutes and her feet being numb, her hands being numb she finally gets the pilot cleared of the parachute and signals with her hand for the helicopter. As the helicopter approaches it lowers down the rescue hoist. Petty Officer Mogk grabbed it and attached the pilot’s harness to the hook on the rescue hoist. This is what it takes. This mindset of never ever giving up. You are saving a life and that is your singular driving force. She has just secured 2nd LT. 2ND LIEUTENANT MICHAEL G. MARKSTALLER onto the rescue hoist. He is gray-faced, unconscious, and shaking violently.
The first crewman and the help of the copilot get 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller, into the helicopter. “Skipper, he’s blue. Core temp has to be in the low 80s. He’s not going to make the transit if we don't move now.”
They don’t have the time it would take to get the swimmer out of the water. If they don’t move now 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller will not make it. The pilot makes one of the toughest decisions he can make as a commander as he considers “life over limb”. They signal to the swimmer that they must leave her in the water. They immediately begin lifesaving procedures.
Now, imagine being alone in the ocean, frigid cold, hypothermia already setting in, every minute counts, and the helicopter flies away! Leaving her in the ocean with no land in sight. The most alone, scary feeling that you can encounter and she’s in this situation because she volunteers to save lives and she has faith in her crew to find her and come back and get her. She activates her emergency beacon and waits and waits.
Every minute feels like an hour as you fight against the thoughts racing through your mind, the sharks in the water, the frigid cold. How long can you hold on? Are they coming back? Will they be able to find me when they do? I know they’ll come back. I have faith they’ll come back. The thoughts going through your head. I can’t feel my hands anymore. My feet are numb. I don’t even know if my fins are still attached.
Then, in the distance, she starts to hear the faint sound closing in and it is, it’s the helicopter. A different helicopter made it back and they could see her. They’re picking up her radio frequency signal off the emergency beacon and they’ve located her. They pull her out of the water. She’s not in good shape though. She’s flown back to Astoria where she received medical treatment. She had hypothermia settling in, but what she says is “She later said “I wish I could have done something more. I wish there could have been more, I or anyone, could have done.”.
Lieutenant Mark Staller was flown to Columbia General hospital where he was then airlifted to a Level 1 Trauma Center at Emanuel Hospital in Portland. 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller underwent rewarming therapy to bring his body temp back to normal. He had surgery to repair his severely separated shoulder. Despite the intensity of the crash and the struggle in the 50° Fahrenheit, 10° Celsius water, he made a successful recovery. He underwent three years of recovery before eventually returning to flying in the military and then as a pilot flying commercial.
Every search and rescue asset that was available was called in to locate Lt Baker. An HC-130 and an H-3 arrive on site with pararescue from the Air Force to help locate 1st Lt. Baker. The search was intense. Baker was found after three hours of searching, nearly three miles from the original scene where Petty Officer Mogk rescued Officer 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller. Two pararescue were deployed and found 1st Lieutenant Baker floating under his raft, tangled in his chute, and unconscious.
Air Force Rescue immediately began evacuation to Columbia General and began lifesaving measures aboard the helicopter. Every effort was made by the hospital staff. The violent ejection and the severe hypothermia from being in the water for three hours before they could find him took his life as he died during surgery.
Officer 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller credited the efforts by 1st Lieutenant Mark A. Baker to deploy the ejection seat with saving his life, after unsuccessful attempts by 2nd Lieutenant Michael G. Markstaller to pull his ejection handle.
Lt. Baker was buried on January 6, 1989, at Skyline Memorial Gardens in Portland with full military honors, including a Missing Man formation flown by his fellow "RedHawks" in F-4 Phantoms.
Petty Officer Mogk would be honored by the 142nd Wing being taken on a flight in the F4 Phantom.
Petty Officer Mogk would receive an Air Medal and be congratulated by President George H.W. Bush, in person.
She went on to serve for many years as a rescue swimmer including a duty station at Air Station Sirka Alaska, before eventually becoming commissioned in 1994. She then received her wings as an H-65 Dolphin pilot and serving out her service to the country as a Search and Rescue flight officer at duty stations such as Air Station Humboldt Bay California, Air Station Port Angeles Washington and then serving as an Instructor Pilot at the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Alabama before retiring.
She married and became Kelly Mogk-Larson. Just some of Officer Kelly Mogk-Larsons list of military awards include five Presidential Unit Citations, four Meritorious Unit Citations, three Good Conduct Medals, three Coast Guard Achievement Medals, Two Coast Guard Commendation medals, two Special Operations Service Awards, an Air Medal, and a Meritorious Service Medal.
In 2019 Larson was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame.
Officer Mogk-Larson embodies the silent service and the spirit of the Rescue Swimmer motto, So Others May Live! And for this we salute her.
SOURCES:
MILITARY & GOVERNMENT RECORDS
* 142nd Wing, Oregon Air National Guard. (2019, May 24). Pacific Rescue, Pacific Loss. Official Heritage Archive.
* U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office. (2022, March 11). The Long Blue Line: Coast Guard women in aviation—blazing a trail for 80 years!
* George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. (1989, February 14). White House Photographic Office (WHPO) Digital Collection.
* DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service). (2009, December 22). First female Coast Guard rescue swimmer retires.
Literature & Media
* LaGuardia-Kotite, Martha J. (2006). So Others May Live: Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Saving Lives, Defying Death. Lyons Press.
* Popravak, Jr., Lt. Col. Terrence G. (2023). Oregon’s Vietnam War Air Warriors: The 142nd Fighter Group’s F-4C Phantom II. 142nd Wing Public Affairs.
* Women in Aviation International (WAI). (2019). Pioneer Hall of Fame: Kelly Mogk Larson Profile.
Visual Archives
* 142nd Wing Public Affairs Flickr. Heritage Album: 123rd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (Redhawks).
* Foundation for Women Warriors. Military Service & Awards Registry: LCDR Kelly Larson.
Author: AWH2 Melvin Hayden, Retired Helicopter Rescue Swimmer
FOR PREVIOUS EPISODES AND ACCESS TO STORIES TWO WEEKS EARLY JOIN MY PATREON AT www.patreon.com/airrescuevet [https://www.patreon.com/airrescuevet]
Find @airrescuevet everywhere https://www.linktr.ee/airrescuevet [https://www.linktr.ee/airrescuevet]
For Story Sources: https://www.patreon.com/posts/hero-of-solomon-148774864?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link [https://www.patreon.com/posts/hero-of-solomon-148774864?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link]
This story is based on the true-life events recorded in official and public documents. The story is reconstructed using all available evidence and the experience of @airrescuevet. If this story had any value for you please like and subscribe. It really helps support what I am trying to create. My goal is to bring you true life stories of rescues. Be one of my first 1000 subscribers. As I grow, I would like to fund a charity focused on rescues along with adding more features to my videos, bringing better produced videos and reconstructed stories of true-life SAR.
KEYWORDS:
Story, Stories, History, Womens History, Drama, Nonfiction, Kelly Mogk, Kelly Mogk-Larson, Kelly Mogk Larson, Rescue Swimmer, So Others May Live, SAR, Search and Rescue, Bi
