It was not uncommon in the early days of mountain rescue for search parties to be out in the mountains all day only to find on their return in the evening that the missing persons had been found shortly after they left in the morning. Lack of communication was the main factor of course.

Very pistols helped a wee bit, a green flare could be fired into the air indicating the search had ended – this relied on good visibility and wasn’t too successful, though several rescue teams had one in the early days, kept by the police until required. It was the police that had the first walkie-talkies out on rescues soon after the Second World War, and it was only when official rescue teams were formed in the 1960s that civilian teams started to acquire them.

Founder of our collection, Mick Tighe, was Training Officer for all Scotland’s rescue teams in the early 2000s and instigated a system whereby all rescue team members would have a radio, providing good communications and ensuring safety.

The ICOM we have here in the collection is the one used by Mick during his time in Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team. It was superseded by better models rendering this one redundant.