The U.S. Coast Guard was on station from the very beginning of powered flight, with surfmen from the Kill Devil Hill Lifeboat Station in North Carolina helping the Wright Brothers carry their fragile biplane from its shelter to the launch site on the day they made history on December 17, 1903. The first Coast Guardsmen assigned to flight training reported to Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola in 1916, and saw action during the First World War. In 1919, the NC-4 flying boat became the first plane to fly across the Atlantic Ocean with Coast Guard Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone as the pilot.
During the interwar years the Coast Guard adapted aviation to its lifesaving mission, the array of aircraft operated during the period veritable flying lifeboats for mariners in distress. Coast Guard aircraft also enforced prohibition by searching for illicit alcohol stills. World War II brought pioneering efforts in the arena of rotary wing flight, with Coast Guard aviators pioneering helicopters for use in air-sea rescue, a mission that continues today along with drug interdiction, monitoring of fishing grounds, containing oil spills, and the all important role of homeland security.
The Coast Guard exhibit will soon be undergoing a total reconstruction to tell the story of those who stand by the service’s motto, “Semper Paratus” or “Always Ready.”
For a more extensive history of Coast Guard Aviation, go to the official website at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/h_aviation.html