| st Guard was introduced to aviation in 1903 when the | | | | Coast Guard Headquarters under the command of |
| surfmen from the Kill Devil Hill Lifeboat Station [below, | | | | Commander Norman Hall. It drew up specifications for |
| right] in North Carolina provided the Wright Brothers | | | | a multi-mission aircraft which, given the technology of |
| with added muscle during the pre-launch activities of | | | | the day, could be met only by a large seaplane or |
| that epic flight. Three surfmen helped carry the fragile | | | | amphibian. A photo of CWO Thrun To aid distressed |
| biplane from its shelter to the launch site on 17 | | | | mariners, the Coast Guard developed the concept of |
| December. Surfman J.T. Daniels took the only | | | | the "flying lifeboats." These aircraft could fly hundreds |
| photograph of the event using the Wrights’ | | | | of miles, land in an open and frequently uninviting sea, |
| camera. | | | | and carry out a rescue. Seven aircraft were acquired, |
| A photo of the Kitty Hawk lifesaving crew The first | | | | two Douglas Dolphin RD-2s, which were modified to |
| practical steps toward a Coast Guard air arm | | | | Coast Guard requirements, and five General Aviation |
| occurred in early 1915 when Lieutenants Elmer Stone | | | | Flying Life Boat PJ-1s which were specifically designed |
| and Norman Hall conceived of using aircraft for Coast | | | | for the service. All were named for important stars. |
| Guard missions. With the backing of their commanding | | | | These aircraft were involved in numerous rescues. In |
| officer, CAPT Benjamin Chiswell, they approached the | | | | one such incident LCDR Carl von Paulsen set the |
| Curtiss Flying School at Newport News, VA, discussed | | | | Arcturus down in a heavy sea in January 1933 off |
| their idea and were taken on experimental flights in the | | | | Cape Canaveral and rescued a boy adrift in a skiff. |
| school’s aircraft. A Curtiss F flying boat was | | | | The aircraft sustained so much damage during the |
| used for much of the experiment. | | | | open water landing that it could not take off. This was |
| The aircraft lacked navigational equipment and, | | | | the fate on a number of ocean rescues that had to be |
| therefore, never ventured beyond the sight of land. In | | | | tried when no other rescue craft could be directed to |
| spite of the technological limitations of the aircraft, the | | | | the scene by the aircraft. Ultimately, Arcturus washed |
| experiment proved successful and as a result Stone | | | | onto the beach and all including the boy were saved. |
| and five others were assigned to the Naval Aviation | | | | In 1934 Henry Morgenthau became the Secretary of |
| School at Pensacola for training in April 1916. Hall was | | | | the Treasury. He was an aviation enthusiast and |
| sent to the Curtiss factory to study aeronautical | | | | supported its expansion within the Coast Guard. He |
| engineering. Later in 1916, Congress authorized the | | | | transferred the aviation detachment of the Customs |
| Coast Guard to establish ten air stations, but no money | | | | Service to the Coast Guard in 1934. In fact, the |
| was appropriated and this effort was stillborn. | | | | materiel benefits of this transfer were small because |
| During World War I, Coast Guard aviators were | | | | they introduced into the Coast Guard a conglomeration |
| assigned to naval air stations in this country and | | | | of aircraft that were mostly poor in condition and |
| abroad. One Coast Guardsman commanded the | | | | impossible to maintain. |
| Naval Air Station, Ille Tudy, France, and won the French | | | | Notwithstanding, the Secretary’s enthusiasm for |
| Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Another | | | | Coast Guard aviation was important to its |
| commanded the Chatham Naval Air Station. He also | | | | development. He obtained Public Works Administration |
| piloted one of two HS-1 seaplanes that bombed and | | | | (PWA) funds for the purchase of new aircraft and |
| machine-gunned a German U-boat off the coast of | | | | additional air stations. By 1936 the Coast Guard had six |
| New England. The bombs failed to explode and the | | | | air stations, two air detachments and 42 aircraft. |
| submarine escaped. | | | | A photo of a Coast Guard aircraftAlso during the |
| A photo of a Coast Guard aircraft A by-product of | | | | 1930s, the marriage between the cutter and aircraft |
| the war effort was the stimulus and potential to fly the | | | | took place. The 327-foot cutters embarked either a |
| Atlantic. In May 1919, four Navy Curtiss seaplanes, each | | | | Grumman JF-2 or Curtiss SOC-4 amphibians. These |
| crewed by five, began the great experiment. One | | | | aircraft-equipped cutters were designed to patrol |
| plane, NC-4 ultimately succeeded. It was captained by | | | | against opium smuggling off the West Coast and |
| LCDR A.C. Read, USN and was piloted by LT Elmer | | | | fisheries violations in Alaskan waters, and to serve on |
| Stone, USCG. In 1983 Elmer Stone was the first Coast | | | | plane guard duty in the Atlantic to protect the |
| Guard pilot enshrined in the Naval Aviation Museum in | | | | embryonic transcontinental commercial air service. |
| Pensacola, Fla. | | | | World War II accelerated the growth of aviation within |
| A second false start for Coast Guard aviation | | | | all of the armed services including the Coast Guard. |
| occurred in 1920. In March the Coast Guard’s | | | | Coast Guard aviation played a critical role in the |
| first air station was established at Morehead City, NC, | | | | defense of Greenland. Prior to the United |
| when the service took over the abandoned naval air | | | | States’ entry into World War II, the cutter |
| station and borrowed a few Curtiss HS-2L flying boats | | | | Duane, with a Curtiss SOC-4 on board, surveyed the |
| and possibly one or two Aeromarine Model 40s from | | | | coast of Greenland for potential airfield sites during the |
| the Navy. The aircraft were particularly useful at | | | | summer of 1941. |
| locating those in distress and finding derelicts. Congress | | | | A photo of LT PritchardAfter fighting began, aircraft |
| did not appropriate any funding to support the | | | | flying from cutters searched for and helped locate |
| operation, however, and the station was closed in 1921. | | | | German weather stations in the frozen northern areas |
| In 1925, LCDR C. C. von Paulsen borrowed a Vought | | | | of Greenland. These stations were providing critical |
| UO-1 seaplane from the Navy. Operating from | | | | data to U-boats operating in the North Atlantic. The |
| Squantum, MA and later Ten Pound Island in | | | | stations were captured by the Coast Guard. Also, |
| Gloucester Harbor, he demonstrated the potential of | | | | Coast Guard aircraft performed harrowing rescues by |
| aviation in combating the smuggling of whiskey. | | | | flying through snow storms and landing on the ice cap |
| Prohibition had become the law of the land in 1920 and | | | | to aid distressed Allied air crews who had crashed |
| soon its enforcement became the dominant mission of | | | | while attempting to ferry aircraft across the Atlantic. |
| the Coast Guard. As a result, Congress appropriated | | | | During one such rescue in December 1942, LT John |
| $152,000 for five aircraft, the first to be owned by the | | | | Pritchard [right] and Radioman Benjamin Bottoms lost |
| service. Three Loening OL-5 amphibians and two | | | | their lives after having rescued part of a B-17 air crew |
| Chance Vought UO4s were purchased. These aircraft | | | | the previous day. In late 1943, Patrol Bombing |
| were flown from air stations at Gloucester, | | | | Squadron Six was activated in Argentia, |
| Massachusetts and Cape May, New Jersey, until 1931 | | | | Newfoundland in October, 1943. The new squadron of |
| when they were replaced. Thus, Coast Guard aviation | | | | 30 officers and 145 enlisted men flew from their home |
| owed its first aircraft to the mission of law | | | | base on Narsarssuak, Greenland, code-named |
| enforcement. The air station at Cape May was the | | | | Bluie-West One, or BW-1. These brave arctic flyers |
| first permanent Coast Guard air station and was first | | | | flew the venerable Consolidated PBY-5A Catalinas on |
| commissioned in 1926. | | | | anti-submarine and search and rescue patrols. |
| By the late 1920s the search and rescue clientele had | | | | Back along the American coasts, Coast Guard aircraft |
| changed primarily from coastal sailors to oceangoing | | | | patrolled for U-boats. In August 1942 a Grumman J4F |
| motor ships. Ships moved their trade routes farther out | | | | Widgeon flown by Chief Aviation Pilot Henry White |
| to sea away from the dangers of the shoreline as the | | | | was given credit for sinking the U-166 in the Gulf of |
| use of steam and diesel engines for propulsion and | | | | Mexico, although this credit is now in question. |
| steel for construction increased. Now when | | | | Nevertheless White's J4F is on display at the Naval |
| emergencies arose, they were frequently far off the | | | | Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. |
| coast. In 1928 an aviation section was established at | | | | |