AF Jet Delivers Heart to Doctors for Transplant
An Air Force fighter-bomber, flying at supersonic speed, transported a heart from Oklahoma to Hartford early today, enabling doctors to transplant the organ into a 46-year-old man.
Richard Reinhardt of Pine Plains, N.Y., was “doing well” after the life-saving surgery at Hartford Hospital, spokesman James Battaglio said.
The Air Force was called on after it was realized that it would be impossible for a private jet to transport the heart to Connecticut within the required four hours without damaging it, Battaglio said.
Hospital officials turned to Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, N.H., for help. Two FB111-As, plus a tanker jet, flew to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, where the crew of one jet retrieved the heart.
Two fighters were sent in case mechanical problems developed with the lead jet.
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