Essex Air Ambulance was launched in 1998 to serve the people of Essex.

The aircraft carries a highly skilled crew of Doctors and Paramedics and sophisticated life-saving equipment to a patient within the first few vital minutes of an emergency.

The Air Ambulance has flown almost 10,000 missions.

It costs around £150,000 per month to keep the helicopter flying.

The charity receives no National Lottery funding; relying upon the generous people of Essex to keep the aircraft flying.In the mid 1990s the need for an Air Ambulance was becoming increasingly recognized. A life-saving helicopter would have the ability to access remote parts of Essex quickly and would not be affected by high tides or traffic congestion. The presence of an Air Ambulance would also enable medical personnel to reach areas inaccessible to land vehicles including woods, beaches, docks and golf courses.

The Essex Air Ambulance charity was established and began fundraising in 1997.

The first Air Ambulance, a Bolkow 105 Db, was launched in July 1998 from New Hall School in Boreham. The aircraft, based at Boreham Airfield near Chelmsford, was initially in service 5 days a week.

During the past 10 years there have been 3 aircraft in service as Essex Air Ambulance. The first two helicopters were Bolkows and the people of the county would have initially recognized the bright red livery of their Essex Air Ambulance.
 
In July 1999, thanks to phenomenal fundraising, the charity was able to increase the aircrafts flying time from 5 days to 7 days per week. In early 2000, following a sponsorship deal with the AA, the aircraft was given a new look and resprayed yellow.

By May 2003 the Essex Air Ambulance had completed more than 3,500 missions and again thanks to the passion and fundraising of the County, the charity was in a position to commission a new state of the art aircraft, the Eurocopter EC135 T2.