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Scramble 469
aircraft and having USCG Air Stations established, no funding
was made available. The USCG aviators were assigned to
Naval Air Stations instead.
In 1925 Lt.Commander Von Paulsen borrowed a Vought UO-1
seaplane from the Navy. He proved the potential of aviation
in enforcing the Prohibition, which became the main mission
of the USCG. Finally Congress approved, and made funds
available for the purchase of the first five USCG aircraft: three
Loening OL-5 amphibians and two Chance Vought UO-4s.
Over the years search and rescue missions were flown far off
the coast, as the ships moved their routes farther out to sea,
away from the dangers of the shoreline. ‘Flying lifeboats’ as
the Douglas Dolphin RD-2 and General Aviation Flying Life
Boat PJ-1, were added to the inventory to fulfill this task.
In 1934 the USCG aviation received an enormous boost when
the aviation detachment of the Customs Service was trans-
ferred to the USCG. Funds for the purchase of new aircraft,
and creation of additional air stations were obtained.
In the same years some of the USCG cutters were equipped
with Grumman JF-2 amphibian, to patrol against opium
smuggling and fisheries violations.
During the World War II the USCG played a critical role in
the defense against German U-boats operating in the North
Atlantic and for the American coasts. The aircraft were also
used to aid crashed Allied air crew, and searched for mer-
chant mariners who were the victims of enemy torpedoes.
An aircraft perfectly equipped for this was the Consolidated
PBY-5A Catalina.
In the 15th century Leonardo da Vinci had already created a
design for a machine that would make vertical flight possible.
Over the centuries that followed this concept was improved
and by mid 1930s some countries had developed a helicopter.
Nazi Germany used helicopters in small numbers for obser-
vation, transport, and medical evacuation. Being able to take
off and land vertically, and to hover showed the potential of
helicopters for the search and rescue role, a role the USCG
wanted to look further into. However, World War II inter-
rupted this evaluation.
Instead, in 1943 the USCG began with developing the helicop-
ter for antisubmarine warfare. Closer to the end of the War
the threat of the U-boats reduced substantially. The evalua-
tion focused back to the search and rescue role. In April 1945
the helicopter showed her potential with a successful rescue
in a remote area near Goose Bay, Canada : a USAAF Douglas
C-54 Skymaster flew a USCG HSN-1 in from USCG Air Station
Brooklyn to assist with the rescue operation after the crash
of a RCAF Consolidated PBY-5A Canso. During another rescue
operation in September 1946 the usefulness of rotary-wing
aircraft in air-sea search-and-rescue activities was again
proven : this time two USCG helicopters were flown in to help
with the rescue of eighteen survivors of the Belgian airliner
Sabena DC-4 OO-CBG that crashed near Gander, Canada. The
helicopter had earned her place as the USCG’s primary search
and rescue tool.
HC-130H 1718 flanks the “Saint Pete” badge and the official USCG Air Station Clearwater badge, with their motto “Anytime, Anywhere”.
Still in its centennial yellow colour scheme, not a bad thing in Search and Rescue by the way, is this MH-60T 6044.
