Editing Fort Lewis (Washington) (section)

=== Gray Army Airfield ===
[[Image:Four Chinooks at Fort Lewis.jpg|thumb|right|[[Chinook (helicopter)|Chinook helicopters]] over [[Gray Army Airfield]] at Ft. Lewis in 1977]]
{{Main|Gray Army Airfield}}
Gray Army Airfield {{airport codes|GRF|KGRF}} is a military [[airport]] located within Fort Lewis. The field is named in honor of Captain Lawrence C. Gray, who died during a free balloon flight at the field on November 4, 1927. The field is now used by Army helicopters.<ref name="GAAF">[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/gray.htm Gray Army Airfield]</ref>

Helicopters based at the airfield assisted with medical evacuations at [[Mount Rainier National Park]] on numerous occasions in the 1970s. Army helicopters were also used to insert search-and-rescue [SAR] teams into inaccessible areas on the east, north, and west sides of the mountain, lowering rangers to the ground by a cable device known as a "jungle penetrator". Helicopters began assisting with high-altitude (above 10,000 feet) SAR operations in the 1980s. Helicopters were also used for "short haul" rescue operations, in which a ranger and litter were carried in a sling below the helicopter to the scene of the accident.<ref name="GAAF"/>

During World War II, the [[Air Transport Command (United States Air Force)|Air Transport Command's]] 4131st Army Air Force Base Unit used GAAF as the [[CONUS]] hub for the Alaskan [[West Coast Wing]], ferrying supplies, equipment, and aircraft to the [[Eleventh Air Force]] at [[Elmendorf Field]], near Anchorage. Also used by [[Air Technical Service Command]] as an aircraft maintenance and supply depot, primarily to service aircraft being sent to [[Alaska]]. The Army Air Force closed its facilities in 1947.<ref name="GAAF"/>