1984 – U. S. Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Program Established At approximately 0400 on Saturday, 12 February 1983 the M/V Marine Electric sent a distress call. The vessel was taking on water and sinking off the Virginia coast in 20– 40 foot seas with winds in excess of 60 knots. The Rescue Coordination Center Portsmouth […]

1982 – OPBAT – Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos; a Cooperative Drug Interdiction Operation Initiated The Bahamas, a sparsely settled group of islands extending from a point seventy miles off the east coast of Florida to just northwest of Haiti, gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1973. Carlos Lehder, one of the kingpins of […]

1982 – HU25 Falcon Jet Enters Service The HU-25 Falcon Jet is a medium-range surveillance (MRS) fixed-wing aircraft that was used to perform search and rescue, enforcement of laws and treaties including illegal drug interdiction, marine environmental protection, and military readiness. The origin of this MRS procurement can be traced back to 1966 when the […]

1982 – Coast Guard and the Department of Defense Conducted Joint Evaluation of Lighter Than Air (LTA) Aircraft The Coast Guard and the United States Navy initiated a joint study to determine the feasibility of developing an airship to meet Navy and Coast Guard needs. Information to determine the efficiency of LTA craft was obtained from […]

1981 – Coast Guard Air Detachment Guantanamo Bay Cuba Established WHEC Coast Guard Cutter Chase with HH-52 on board The Cuban exodus of 1980 changed the response to illegal immigration from the Caribbean. Skilled immigrants from Jamaica and Haiti, both Afro-Caribbean groups, arriving between 1965 and 1980 passed into American society almost unnoticed. The pre-1980 […]

1980 – Mariel Boatlift U. S. Coast Guard Operations During the 1980 Cuban Exodus HH-52A – Working with CGC Diligence A huge Cuban refugee exodus took place in 1980.  The reason is deeply rooted in that nation’s internal affairs.  After the Cuban Revolution in 1959 a steady flow of Cuban immigration took place as Castro […]

1979 – HH-65 Aircraft Program Office Established During 1977 an acquisition program was launched to provide the Coast Guard with a new Short-Range-Recovery (SRR) helicopter by early 1980. A Request for Technical Proposals (RFTP) was issued in September of 1977 with a Coast Guard decision on the new machine planned for August of 1978.  Helicopter […]

1978 – Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento Established HC-130s on the ramp Air Station Sacramento Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento was commissioned on the fifth of September 1978. It is located at the north end of the former McClellan Air Force Base. With a complement of 153 officers and enlisted personnel operating four HC-130 “Hercules” […]

1978 – The Coast Guard Aviation Technical Training Center Was Established Coast Guard Aviation Technical Training Center In the early years of Coast Guard Aviation the US Coast Guard trained its enlisted aviation personnel at Navy schools.  There was a restructuring of aviation enlisted ratings after World War II. In 1949 the initial aviation training […]

1977 –  Air Station/Group Humboldt Bay, California Commissioned Group/Air Station Humboldt Bay – Arcata Airport Coast Guard Group / Air Station Humboldt Bay was commissioned on June 24, 1977 at the Arcata-Eureka Airport in McKinleyville, CA. This completed a multi-year initiative by local residents to gain a year-round aviation search and rescue (SAR) facility for […]