PB4Y-2 with locally fabricated nose blister
L – R: Bishop ARM1, Apple AMM1 ADAMS AOC, xxxxxxx, Yeager AMM1 —
On 12 July 1945 VPB-6 (CG) was redesignated a non-combat squadron. Operational control remained with Commander Task Force 24.0. Four PB4Y-1 aircraft were obtained from the Navy. Two were returned to the Navy within a several month period and two were assigned for ice reconnaissance test work with AN/APS-15A radar. In August VPB-6 (CG) was directed to transfer its headquarters from BW-1 to the Naval Facility at Argentia. The Coast Guard was returned to the Treasury department on 1 January 1946. VPB-6(CG) was disestablished as a Navy Squadron at that time. Elements of the squadron would continue as an air detachment which operated as part of the North Atlantic Ocean Patrol (NORLANTPAC). This became Coast Guard Air Detachment Argentia.
During the spring of 1946 the International Ice Patrol was resumed. Two PB4Y-1s were used for that purpose. They were replaced by PB-1G aircraft used for Search and Rescue and the international Ice Patrol. The PB4Y-1s were returned to the War Assets Administration in1947.
There was an additional PB4Y-1, based out of Guam, during the period that the Top Secret LORAN stations were constructed in the Pacific Theater of Operations during WWII.
