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 alerted the Navy at NAS Oceana and the Coast Guard … Read more
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 the Medellin Drug Cartel, arrived there in 1978 and started buying up property at Norman … Read more
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 Coast Guard participated in a full-scale wing … Read more
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 the Naval Air Development Center. (NADC) NADC did a mission analysis comparison between airships and ships, aircraft, … Read more
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 Cuban migrants received all kinds of state assistance facilitating incorporation … Read more
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 moved deeper and deeper into the communist fold. This was temporarily halted by the … Read more
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 manufacturers who responded to the request were … Read more
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” aircraft, Air Station Sacramento is under the operational … Read more
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 “A” schools moved from San Diego to the Naval Training Center, … Read more
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 Northern California. Prior to 1977, an aviation detachment … Read more
THE COAST GUARD AVIATION ASSOCIATION
“Flying Since The World Was Flat”
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