1967 – United States Coast Guard Transferred to the Department of Transportation In his 1966 State of The Union Message, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his intention to seek legislation creating a cabinet-level department that would oversee all federal transportation-related activities. The Coast Guard was to be part of this department. This was strongly opposed by […]

1967 – Coast Guard – Air Force Pilot Exchange Program Initiated The Coast Guard Aviators Served With the Air Force Combat Air Rescue and Recovery Squadrons in Vietnam HH-3E Helicopter Painted in Jolly Green Livery The Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered that search and rescue forces be sent into Southeast Asia in May of 1964.  […]

1966 – The Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Established at Mobile Alabama The Basic Operational Training Unit (BOTU) formed at Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, Georgia, to provide standardized pilot/aircrew training for the HH-52, had been an unqualified success and Coast Guard Headquarters wished to extend the program to other aircraft.  Air station Savannah was […]

1966 – Air Station Detroit Michigan Established HH-65C “Dolphin” helicopter from Air Station Detroit over the Detroit River with the RenaissanceCenter and downtown Detroit in the background. Commissioned in June 1966, Coast Guard Air Station Detroit is located twenty miles north of Detroit on Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan. Air Station personnel first occupied […]

1965 – Air Station Miami Moves from Dinner Key to Opa-Locka Airport In November of 1965 the Coast Guard Air Station Miami relocated to the Opa-Locka airport located fourteen miles northwest of downtown Miami. The Air Station had been at Dinner Key since first established in June of 1932. The move was necessitated because of […]

1964 – The First of the 210 foot Coast Guard Cutters Were Launched They Were Designed With a Helicopter Landing Platform but No Hangar HH-52A on deck – note landing gear grid A long range plan, suggested by the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, to address the obsolescence of the cutter fleet was undertaken in […]

1964 – Coast Guard Air Station Astoria Oregon Established Coast Guard Group/Air Station Astoria was established on 14 August 1964 at Tongue Point Naval Station with a crew of 22 officers and 104 enlisted men. Two single engine Sikorsky HH-52A helicopters were operated from that location. The helicopters staged from the Port of Astoria Airport […]

1963 – Coast Guard Air Station Houston Established L/R AT1 Nielson, CAPT Shrode USCG, LT. Gen Stafford, CAPT Schirra Coast Guard Air Station Houston was commissioned 23 December 1963. Located on one acre at Ellington AFB, 17 miles SE of downtown Houston Texas. Two HH-52 helicopters, seven officer/pilots, and 18 enlisted mechanics/aircrewmen set up shop […]

1963 – Air Station Savannah Established HH-65 on the ramp- Air Station Savannah The Coast Guard Air Station Savannah was commissioned in August of 1963 on what was then known as Hunter Air Force Base. On a grassy open space at the north end of the base were two new house trailers that would serve […]

1963 – The VC-4A Executive Transport Was Purchased The Coast Guard acquired a special ordered G-159 Gulfstream 1 executive transport from Grumman Aircraft Corporation on 19 March 1963. Designated VC-4A it was based out of National Airport in Washington, D.C. and used to provide air transportation on a demand basis, to the Secretary of Treasury […]