On 3 July 1956, prior to even entering civil service, the Alouette II was responsible for breaking new ground when it became the first helicopter to perform a mountain rescue mission, having been deployed to evacuate a mountaineer who had suffered from cardiac arrest at over . On 3 January 1957, the Alouette II was called upon again in order to rescue the crew of a crashed Sikorsky S-58, which had been searching for missing mountaineers Jean Vincendon and François Henry on Mont Blanc.