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)

In either 2066 (COMIC: The Archives of Phryne) or the 2080s, International Rescue attended (PROSE: Captain Scarlet in Death Crash!) to the worst forest fire in years, having destroyed an estimated forty million dollars of timber, (COMIC: The Archives of Phryne) after the blaze proved too tough for Canada's emergency services to handle. They came to the aid of Jack Farrel, (PROSE: Captain Scarlet in Death Crash!) who was the intended victim of the fire, which had been started by his business partner Sam Lincoln. However, in March 2089, Action 21 reported that the Tracy brothers were pursuing Lincoln further into the heart of the fire after he stole one of their rescue machines. (PROSE: Captain Black Surrenders)

In either 2066 (COMIC: Impasse) or 2089, International Rescue searched for a missing surgeon, Doctor Adams, who was urgently needed in order to save General N'Mobo, the President of Madagascar. (PROSE: Lhomel to go as freedom force hits Astra!) Adams' private jet had been forced to crash land over Kenya due to reactor troubles. (PROSE: Showdown in Space!) Pete Tracker reported from Nairobi that Thunderbird 1 had joined the search (PROSE: Lhomel to go as freedom force hits Astra!) but even though Scott had requested the assistance of Thunderbird 2 and Tracy Island had acknowledged that request, the craft seemingly disappeared thereafter. This led TV 21 to speculate that the rescue machine had crashed, on 26 March 2066, and they also stated its pods had been modified to act as animal cages before its departure. (PROSE: Thunderbird Two) By this time, the latest medical bulletins from Madagascar revealed that there was nothing more doctors could do for N'Mobo's critical condition and that his life now rested in the hands of International Rescue. (COMIC: Impasse) Adams was eventually found and on 15 April 2066, the fifty thousand inhabitants of the island celebrated the news that "General N'Mobo was getting better after a desperate mercy flight across Africa had brought him life-saving drugs". Crowds in Tananrive happily chanted "We want Thunderbirds!", but they had already gone in their usual cloak of security and secrecy. (PROSE: "We Want Thunderbirds!")

On 7 May 2066, Thunderbird 2 vanished again. Tracking stations reported an unidentified craft in orbit around the globe with TV 21 speculating that it could be the missing International Rescue vehicle. (PROSE: Destroy Space City) On 14 May, the "most dramatic" order ever given by the organisation — "Find the base of TC 193!" — rapped out over the radio to Thunderbird 5. TV 21 noted the Thunderbird vehicles hunting a United States Air Force craft could only mean one thing, that the organisation intended to attack and possibly destroy the only aircraft ever to elude their detection network. Their air correspondent stated that the chances of any organisation finding the base were very slim but that newspaper men who had covered International Rescue's operations and seen the machinery at their disposal were convinced they could not only find TC 193 but also shoot it down. (PROSE: Search and Destroy)

During the 2066 heat crisis, 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.)

At the end of 2066, International Rescue ordered Thunderbird 4 to the polar regions in order to aid the Shackleton in carrying a replacement reactor to Camp 21st Century, which was essential in saving the lives of the personnel. (COMIC: The Road to Conflict)

On 24 June 2067, International Rescue enacted Operation Cover-Up, which was a move to disguise the headquarters of the organisation on Tracy Island. This was necessary because the Hood had obtained the location of the island, as well as photographs of the Thunderbird craft, by crashing a large passenger plane into the base. As newspapers across the world carried the devestating news which exposed their hideout, Jeff appealed to TV 21 to help combat the Hood's "stunning blow" in any way it could, which the magazine promised to do. (PROSE: Steve Zodiac Alive!)

Ultimately, the organisation was not crippled by this and they later attempted to help the cruise liner President, which had become jammed across the Nicaraguan Canal. However, on 24 August, Thunderbird 4 was pinned to the bottom of the Canal with Gordon inside after he dived beneath the surface of the water to inspect the hull of the vessel. While reason told newspaper men that the weight of the President must crush the small submarine, the cahelium plus metal of TB 4 was reportedly strong enough to support the entire World Aquanaut Security Patrol fleet. As this happened, Nicaraguan troops moved into position ten miles away from the canal zone, with International Rescue being given twenty-four hours to refloat the cruise liner and "straighten out" the nearby rebels before the army took action. (PROSE: TB4 Trapped Under Liner)

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.