U.S. Coast Guard Aviation History
"The Class of 1916"
The first Coast Guard aviation personnel, 22 March 1917.
General Coast Guard Aviation History:
- Coast Guard Aviators (pdf file): a list of Coast Guard aviators and the service number.
- Coast Guard Aviators That Did Not Return: a list of Coast Guard aircrews killed in the line of duty.
- Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers: A History by LCDR Richard M. Wright, USCG (Ret.): a detailed history of the development of the Rescue Swimmer program.
- A History of SARWET: the precursor to the Rescue Swimmer program, written by CDR Bill Thrall, USCG (Ret.). CDR Thrall noted that "SARWET pre-dated the Rescue Swimmer Program by 13-plus years. It ran successfully out of San Francisco for almost 6 years. . .Rescues were made, lives saved and medals awarded. It was real."
- HITRON: Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, by LT Craig Neubecker, USCG. A detailed history of the development and operation of this historic Coast Guard aviation program.
- Coast Guard Aviation in Vietnam: Combat Rescue and Recovery: An Article By John "Bear" Moseley, Coast Guard Aviator #743 (pdf file); a detailed history of Coast Guard exchange pilots who served with the Air Force in a combat SAR role.
- "Despair and Visions: The Birth of the Rescue Helicopter", an article by Lieutenant Commander Barrett T. Beard, USCG (Ret.)
- "The Eyes and Ears of the Convoy: The Coast Guard's Development of the Helicopter as an Anti-Submarine Weapon During World War II," an article describing the Service's early rotary-wing history by Robert Browning. (html) (pdf)
- Commander Elmer Stone: The Coast Guard's First Aviator
Biographies of Coast Guard Aviators:
- Commander Stewart Graham: An illustrated biography of a pioneer Coast Guard helicopter pilot.
- Captain Donald B. MacDiarmid: an article by Lieutenant Commander Barrett T. Beard, USCG (Ret.) entitled "Cap'm Mac and Flying Coffins: Captain Donald B. MacDiarmid, Seaplanes and Coast Guard Aviation."
- Lieutenant Jack Rittichier: An illustrated biography of the only Coast Guard aviator killed in action during the Vietnam War
- Lieutenant Jack Rittichier's
April-May Vietnam combat rescue flights "in his own words"
Coast Guard Aviators' Oral Histories & Other First-Person Accounts:
- Captain William Wishar, USCG (Ret.), the first commanding officer of the Coast Guard's first air station, describes the early years of Coast Guard aviation and personalities involved in his article entitled: "Some Recollections of Early Coast Guard Aviation."
- Rear Admiral Eugene Coffin, USCG (Ret.) provides a letter and a narrative about the flight training he received in 1916 at Pensacola.
- Captain David Oliver, USCG (Ret.): "My Life in the Coast Guard" a narrative of his career as a Coast Guard aviation pioneer, including helicopter development and operations in Alaska
- Bernard Bailey, USCG (Ret.): An oral history covering his service as a Coast Guard aviator in World War II, including flight training, flying PBYs off the West Coast, and operating on photographic survey flights with the Coast & Geodetic Survey.
- Captain David W. Sinclair,
USCG (Ret.): A Memoir: a detailed look at his career which spanned the years 1935 through
1969, including flight training and service at many air stations throughout the nation.
- Lieutenant Commander W. E. Prindle, Jr., USCGR (Ret.): A Coast Guard Aviator in World War II." (CG Aviator #144; CG Helicopter Pilot #24)
- Captain Pete E. Prindle, A Memoir: Grand Fun While It Lasted -- a detailed memoir of his Coast Guard aviation career (CG Aviator #1184; CG Helicopter Pilot #581)
- Captain Pete E. Prindle: Pelican Tales: The Last of the Coast Guard's Amphibious Aircraft -- a narrative describing a number of his SAR missions as the command pilot of an HH-3F Pelican.
Accounts & Documentation of Individual
Rescues / Flights / Operations:
- "A Summary of Action" for a SAR case in 1978 when HC-130H CGNR-1500 assisted in the rescue off Alaska of the crew of a ditched Navy P-3C (BuNo. 159892) on 26 October 1978. A Soviet trawler, the Mys Sinyavin, also participated, making this a unique case of cooperation by the principal antagonists of the Cold War.
- 1937 rescue at sea by a seaplane from Air Station Salem: a period illustrated magazine article.
- The first "armed" Coast Guard aircraft:
a Loening OL-5, circa 1929
Last Modified 9/15/2008