International Rescue

International Rescue was a worldwide emergency rescue organisation headed by Jeff Tracy and based on Tracy Island. Its main personnel were Tracy's five sons who each manned or piloted a different Thunderbird craft crucial to their rescue operations. At their base, they were joined by scientist Horatio Hackenbacker (nicknamed "Brains") and engineer Tin-Tin while two more individuals, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward and Parker, acted as London agents from their home of Creighton-Ward Manor.

International Rescue responded to calls from anywhere on Earth (TV: The Man from MI.5 et al.) and sometimes even carried out missions of a non-terrestrial scale, (COMIC: Solar Danger) though it was a policy that it did not involve itself with politics or police work. (TV: The Man from MI.5) The organisation used four Thunderbird craft for this purpose, namely Thunderbird 1, the high-speed rapid-response rocket piloted by Scott Tracy; Thunderbird 2, the heavy equipment transporter piloted by Virgil Tracy; (TV: The Man from MI.5 et al.) Thunderbird 3, the space-faring rocket piloted by Alan Tracy; (COMIC: Solar Danger) and Thunderbird 4, the submarine piloted by Gordon Tracy. Thunderbird 5, usually manned by John Tracy, was the organisation's space station and it was used to receive and relay distress signals to Tracy Island. (TV: The Man from MI.5 et al.)

Various accounts dated their activities to the 1960s, (TV: The Man from MI.5) the 1990s, (PROSE: The Dying Days) the 2060s, (PROSE: Titan Declares War!) and the 2080s. (PROSE: Captain Scarlet in Death Crash! et al.)

History
As a test for Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward to determine whether she would be a suitable British agent, Jeff sent her the invisible ray torch, which had been invented by Brains, to see if she could hang onto it despite both the British Secret Service and the Hood attempting to steal it. She was ultimately successful and Jeff and Brains visited Creighton-Ward Manor to offer her the job, which she accepted. Lady Penelope then handed over the (now useless) torch to the Secret Service and Parker drove Jeff and Brains back to London Airport in FAB 1. (COMIC: The Vanishing Ray)

In an account dated to 1965, International Rescue helped MI5 agent Jimmy Bondson to recover some stolen plans to a nuclear device with a potential to endanger the entire world. Jeff sent Lady Penelope to Monte Carlo, the scene of the crime, to investigate and she was able to successfully lure out the culprits by posing as fashion model Gayle Williams and boasting about tracking down the criminals in the local newspaper. She was kidnapped by Carl, the leader of a gang, but was able to alert Tracy Island as to her location and the escape of the gang. Scott, Virgil, and Gordon were sent out to rescue her and recover the plans. Scott achieved the former while Gordon recovered the plans and tranquilised all three members of the gang in the process. (TV: The Man from MI.5)

During the heat crisis of 2066, International Rescue coordinated many rescue missions as temperatures soared. However, they eventually became powerless to respond to them all when drought, earthquakes and floods occurred across the entire world, with Thunderbird 1 even investigating the unusual emergence of a volcano in Wales. Brains went up to Thunderbird 5 with Alan to attempt to find a solution and they collected samples from the Moon. After reporting his findings to Jeff, he determined the matter to be of universal importance and contacted World President Nikita Bandranaik to discuss the situation further. Bandranaik eventually sanctioned the mission, as well as the use of a planetomic missile in order to destroy some solar waste before it escaped the Sun's gravity and put Earth in danger. Brains and Alan successfully carried out the mission in Thunderbird 3 despite several hardships on the journey although the nuclear explosion which resulted from their success knocked them unconscious and sent them plunging towards the surface of Venus. The duo was stranded on the planet for some time before Scott, Virgil and Gordon came to their aid in their Thunderbird craft, which had been specially modified for space flight. They repaired the striken TB 3 and later returned to Tracy Island together, triumphant in their mission to save the world. (COMIC: Solar Danger) Throughout the crisis, TV 21 published articles documenting the activities of the organisation. (PROSE: Welsh Volcano Erupts, Destination Sun et al.)

Behind the scenes
International Rescue was a major element of the television science fiction franchise Thunderbirds. Although some Doctor Who universe sources have depicted Thunderbirds itself as a fictional programme, every known reference to the organisation has treated it as real.