Two more helicopters from the Army's Fort Wainwright in Alaska arrived on O'ahu recently, bringing to six the number of Alaska Black Hawks on loan in Hawai'i to fly civilian medevac missions.

The Alaska copters are filling the void created by the deployments of the Schofield Barracks unit that has flown medevac missions here for three decades, as well as a Hilo National Guard unit that filled in until it, too, went on deployment.

Two UH-60 Black Hawks and their crews and support personnel were flown Jan. 20 from Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, Alaska, to Hickam Air Force Base in C-17 transport planes.

They joined four Black Hawks from Alaska that have been here since December.

Two more Black Hawks are to arrive later this month.

The unit is the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, Task Force 49 from Fort Wainwright.

They will fly medevac missions — taking car-crash victims and others in need of emergency medical transport to hospitals — until summer.

"It's definitely a nice change of pace — from sub-zero temperatures to about 75 (degrees) — and it's a good training opportunity," said Sgt. Logan Canton, a flight instructor with Task Force 49.

In addition to the helicopters, the Alaska unit brought three shipping containers of equipment and an extra Black Hawk engine.