The incredible stories behind half-a-century of rescue helicopter

Evan Walton with a helicopter undergoing essential maintenance in Newcastle. Inset, training with a chopper in Auckland, and the first rescue mission at Merewether. Pictures by Peter Lorimer, supplied by Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service

AT A TIME when helicopters were daring and surf lifesavers stuck to boats and patrols, Newcastle's Evan Walton believed getting rescue choppers in the sky would change everything.

It's been 50 years since he and pioneer Ian Badham started the Wales Bank surf rescue helicopter in Sydney, now known as the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.