Two-man high-speed air ambulance,that was a pair of man-pods slung beneath the wings of a Lockheed P-38 F5 recce aircraft, was tested during the Second World War.

Exint pods, man-carrying pods used to insert or exifiltrate special forces or wounded soldiers were not only tested British Harriers and AH-64 Apache and certified for Israeli AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters.

The concept dates back to World War 2 when “body-bags” or wing-mounted enclosures were tested on British Spitfires as well as Stuka dive bombers and ME 109 fighters. Tests were conducted even in the U.S.

Dan Nelson, a reader of this blog sent us some pictures, reportedly taken in 1944, showing casualty evacuation pods attached to an F-5, the reconnaissance variant of the P-38 Lightining.

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.