Bell HTL 1/4/5/7 (1947)

A total of eight Bell HTL series helicopters were used by the U.S. Coast Guard for a wide variety of duties. Beginning in May of 1947, the service received a HTL-1 from the Navy which had ordered an initial batch of ten aircraft. The last HTL-1 from the Navy order was transferred to the Coast Guard in June of 1947. This aircraft operated under the Captain Port of New York, to survey the harbor area, usually with floats attached, seeking out smugglers, saboteurs, maritime offenders, and harbor pollution.  A single HTL-4  was transferred from the Navy. Fitted with float gear, the helicopter was used for ice reconnaissance, search and rescue, and also operated from the cutter STORIS off Nome, Alaska during Distant Early Warning (DEW) line operations.. Three HTL-5s were purchased by the Coast Guard and delivered in February of 1952. They were used for scouting passage through ice, and transporting personnel and cargo from ship to shore over ice-blocked areas. They also saw service with the USCG Port Security in New York, operating from Floyd Bennett Field, remaining in use until 1960.. In August of 1962, two float-equipped Navy HTL-7s were loaned to the Coast Guard, one of which was assigned to cutters. The pair, redesignated TH-13Ns in 1962 and later HH-13Ns, served until October of 1968, and, two months later, were placed in storage at MASDC, Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona.