United States Coast Guard Aviation
United States Coast Guard Aviation began on 1 April 1916, when Lieutenant Elmer Stone was ordered to flight training, and grew from borrowed Navy seaplanes into a rescue and law-enforcement air arm of roughly 200 aircraft at 24 air stations — the service that flew the first helicopter lifesaving mission in 1944 and is now turning its whole helicopter force into MH-60 Jayhawks.
The Coast Guard Aviation story: Elmer Stone, the first rescue helicopter and an all-Jayhawk future
1915–1938: Elmer Stone, the NC-4 and the rum war
The Coast Guard was created by the Act of 28 January 1915, and its aviation history starts with one officer. On 1 April 1916, the date the Coast Guard Aviation Association uses, Lieutenant Elmer Stone received orders for flight training at the Navy’s Pensacola school; he graduated on 10 April 1917 as Coast Guard Aviator No. 1 and Naval Aviator No. 38. In May 1919 he was one of the two pilots of the Navy flying boat NC-4 on the first transatlantic flight. Money did not follow fame: an air station at Morehead City, North Carolina, opened in 1920 with five borrowed aircraft and closed within a year. Flying only took root in 1925, when Lieutenant Commander C. C. von Paulsen borrowed a Navy seaplane and set up on Ten Pound Island in Gloucester Harbor to hunt rum-runners. By the end of 1938 there were 50 aircraft, eight air stations and an air detachment.
1939–1945: submarines, Greenland and the helicopter
War came early. The Coast Guard flew the Neutrality Patrol from 1939 and passed to the Navy by Executive Order 8929 on 1 November 1941. Its aircraft hunted U-boats off the American coast — 53 OS2U Kingfishers were bought in spring 1942 — and a Coast Guard patrol squadron, VP-6CG, flew nine PBY-5As from Narsarssuak in Greenland. The association credits Coast Guard aircraft with 61 bombing attacks on submarines; one famous credit, the J4F Widgeon said to have sunk U-166 in 1942, did not survive the wreck surveys, and in 2014 the Navy gave the kill to the patrol craft PC-566. The lasting wartime achievement was the helicopter. Admiral King gave the Coast Guard helicopter development in February 1943, Brooklyn became the training base, and on 3 January 1944 Frank Erickson flew blood plasma for the survivors of USS Turner, the first lifesaving use of a helicopter.
1946–1975: Albatross, Hercules and the amphibious helicopter
Peace turned the service into a long-range rescue force. Privateers and PB-1G Flying Fortresses arrived in 1945 and 1946, air detachments opened at Kodiak and San Juan in 1947 and at Barbers Point in 1949, and from 6 February 1946 Coast Guard aircraft flew the International Ice Patrol. The UF Albatross amphibian came in 1951, the year President Truman presented the service the Collier Trophy, and by the mid-1950s 127 aircraft were spread across 22 air stations and detachments from the Philippines to Puerto Rico. The real modernisation followed: the first HC-130 Hercules in 1959, the 99 amphibious HH-52A helicopters from 1963 — credited with more than 15,000 lives saved in 26 years — and the long-range HH-3F Pelican from 1967. That year the Coast Guard left the Treasury for the Department of Transportation.
1968–1991: Jolly Greens in Vietnam, jets, Dolphins and Jayhawks
Vietnam was the one war in which Coast Guard pilots flew combat rescue. Under an exchange agreement of March 1967, Coast Guard aviators flew Air Force HH-3E and HH-53 Jolly Greens from Da Nang from 1968; Lieutenant Jack Rittichier was shot down on 9 June 1968 trying to reach a downed pilot and was missing for 35 years until his remains were recovered in 2003. At home the fleet was replaced in one generation: the HU-25 Guardian, the only jet in the operational fleet, came on line in February 1982; the HH-65 Dolphin became operational in November 1985 and retired the amphibious HH-52 in 1989; the HH-60J Jayhawk followed in June 1990. The Mariel exodus of 1980 began as a rescue and became an interdiction mission, and in 1991 a Coast Guard air detachment deployed to the Gulf for Desert Storm.
1999–2014: armed helicopters, Homeland Security and Katrina
The service armed its helicopters at the turn of the century. Trials against drug go-fasts in 1998 led to the Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, commissioned at Jacksonville in 1999, which flew leased MH-90s, then eight MH-68A Stingrays from December 2000 and MH-65s from 2008; by January 2026 it had stopped more than 1,000 vessels. On 1 March 2003 the Coast Guard moved to the Department of Homeland Security, and its HH-65s and HH-60Js were armed for airborne use of force. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the service’s finest hour in the air: 76 Coast Guard and Auxiliary aircraft flew 1,817 sorties and saved 12,535 people. The Deepwater programme was less happy. It planned 36 HC-144A Ocean Sentry patrol aircraft; 18 were built, and the gap was filled in 2014 with 14 C-27J Spartans the Air Force no longer wanted. The HU-25 retired on 26 September 2014.
2014–2026: an all-Jayhawk future, new Hercules and a new Commandant
The present plan is a simpler fleet. In 2023 the Coast Guard decided to move to an all-MH-60 helicopter force of up to 127 aircraft, built new by Sikorsky or converted from Navy SH-60s, retiring the Dolphin even though the 90th and last MH-65E upgrade was only delivered on 19 August 2024. Air Station Ventura, the first new air station in 25 years, received its first MH-60T on 23 August 2024. Twenty-five HC-130Js have been funded; the 19th was accepted on 10 April 2026, and the C-27Js are due to go by the end of fiscal 2028. Admiral Linda Fagan, the first woman to lead a US armed service, was removed on 21 January 2025; Kevin Lunday led as acting Commandant and took office on 15 January 2026. Official sources still disagree on when the last Dolphin goes: fiscal 2035–2039 or the early 2040s.
The United States Coast Guard Aviation in numbers
Service
- Name
- United States Coast Guard AviationThe service has no separately named air arm: "Coast Guard Aviation" is the name its veterans’ association and history archive use. English Wikipedia could not be fetched to confirm its article title during this check
- Founded
- 1 April 1916The day Lieutenant Elmer Stone received orders for flight training, the date the Coast Guard Aviation Association gives; Wikipedia says he reported as a student aviator at Pensacola on 28 March 1916. The first air station of its own opened at Ten Pound Island in 1925
- Part of
- United States Coast GuardUnder the Department of Homeland Security since 1 March 2003; the Treasury until 1967 and the Department of Transportation 1967–2003. In wartime the Coast Guard can be placed under the Navy, as it was in 1917 and on 1 November 1941
- Headquarters
- Washington, D.C.Aviation forces are managed at Coast Guard Headquarters by the Office of Aviation Forces (CG-711)
- Commandant
- Adm. Kevin E. Lunday28th Commandant since 15 January 2026; acting from 21 January 2025
- Aviator No. 1
- Elmer F. StoneGraduated 10 April 1917; co-pilot of the NC-4 on the first transatlantic flight, May 1919
Strength
- Aircraft
- About 200–210Wikipedia’s Coast Guard article gives about 201 aircraft, its air stations list about 210; the type counts below differ between sources because the fleet is in transition
- Helicopters
-
- MH-60T Jayhawk — 45 (51 in one Wikipedia table)
- MH-65E Dolphin — 90 upgraded to MH-65E by August 2024
The MH-60T fleet is growing as Dolphins are retired; 45 new hulls are under contract
- Long-range fixed wing
-
- HC-130J Hercules — 19 accepted by April 2026 (25 funded)
- HC-130H Hercules — being retired; 14 in one Wikipedia table
CG-9 counted 18 operational HC-130Js in February 2026 and accepted the 19th on 10 April 2026
- Medium-range fixed wing
-
- HC-144A/B Ocean Sentry — 18 built
- HC-27J Spartan — 14
Wikipedia’s Coast Guard article splits the HC-144s into 15 A and 3 B (Minotaur); the list of active aircraft counts 18 HC-144B. The C-27Js are to be decommissioned by the end of fiscal 2028
- Command and control
-
- C-37A Gulfstream V — 1
- C-37B Gulfstream 550 — 1
Senior-leader transports
- Lives saved
- 101,729 (1976–1994)The association’s figure for all Coast Guard rescue in those 19 years, not aviation alone; 99,487 for 1995–2010
Infrastructure
- Air stations
- 24From Cape Cod to Barbers Point and Kodiak, including Ventura, opened 2024
- Training
- Aviation Training Center MobileFounded 1966; all pilot transition training
- Depot and technical school
- Elizabeth City, North CarolinaAviation Logistics Center and Aviation Technical Training Center beside the air station
- Armed helicopter squadron
- HITRON, JacksonvilleCommissioned 1999 at Cecil Field
- Largest air station
- Clearwater, FloridaWikipedia calls it the largest; it supports Bahamas operations from Great Inagua and Andros
- Closed historic stations
-
- Morehead City — 1920, closed within a year
- Ten Pound Island, Gloucester — 1925
- Brooklyn (Floyd Bennett Field) — 1938–1998
- Salem, Massachusetts — 1935–1970
Brooklyn was the wartime helicopter school
How the United States Coast Guard Aviation is organised
Not a separately named air arm but the aviation of the US Coast Guard, part of the Department of Homeland Security, with roughly 200 aircraft at 24 air stations answering to the service’s operational chain and managed at headquarters by the Office of Aviation Forces. HC-130 Hercules fly the long-range patrols, HC-144s and HC-27Js the medium-range ones, and MH-60T Jayhawks and MH-65E Dolphins the rescues; the Coast Guard decided in 2023 to make its helicopter force all MH-60. Pilots train at Mobile, the depot and the maintenance school are at Elizabeth City, and the armed helicopters of HITRON fly from Jacksonville. In wartime the Coast Guard can be placed under the Navy, as it was in 1917 and 1941.
Office of Aviation Forces
Coast Guard aviation has no separate commander: the air stations answer to the service’s operational chain, and aviation forces are managed at Coast Guard Headquarters by the Office of Aviation Forces. The Commandant is Adm. Kevin E. Lunday, acting from 21 January 2025, when Adm. Linda Fagan was removed by President Trump, and the 28th Commandant since 15 January 2026. The Coast Guard has been part of the Department of Homeland Security since 1 March 2003.
HC-130 Hercules air stations
The HC-130J, 19 accepted by 10 April 2026 out of 25 funded, flies from Kodiak, Barbers Point and Sacramento, the stations CG-9 names, and according to Wikipedia from Elizabeth City; the older HC-130H, which it is replacing, was listed at Clearwater in 2021. The HC-130J fleet passed 100,000 flight hours on 8 July 2025.
HC-144 Ocean Sentry and HC-27J Spartan air stations
Eighteen HC-144s, of 36 planned, at Miami and Cape Cod, and 14 HC-27J Spartans, transferred from the Air Force from November 2014, at Sacramento; Wikipedia reports that the Coast Guard plans to decommission the HC-27Js by the end of fiscal 2028.
MH-60T Jayhawk and MH-65E Dolphin air stations
The rescue helicopters of the 24 air stations: 45 MH-60T Jayhawks, with 45 new hulls under contract, and 90 Dolphins upgraded to MH-65E by August 2024. In 2023 the Coast Guard decided to move to an all-MH-60 force of up to 127 helicopters; Air Station Ventura, the first new station in 25 years, received its first MH-60T on 23 August 2024.
Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron
Commissioned at Cecil Field, Jacksonville, in 1999 after trials against drug go-fasts in 1998, it flew leased MH-90s, then MH-68A Stingrays from December 2000 and MH-65s from 2008, and by January 2026 had stopped more than 1,000 vessels, according to Wikipedia.
Aviation Training Center Mobile
Founded in 1966, it gives all Coast Guard pilot transition training and qualification on the MH-60T, the MH-65E and the HC-144, and also flies search and rescue.
Aviation Logistics Center and Aviation Technical Training Center
The service’s aviation depot, doing depot work on the whole fleet, and its school for aviation maintenance ratings, both beside Air Station Elizabeth City.
What the United States Coast Guard Aviation flies today
Every type on charge, linked to its Book of Beasts page where one exists. Counts are aircraft on the books, not aircraft available on a given day.
| Type | Role | In service | Since | Units | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sikorsky MH-60T JayhawkIn service | Medium-range recovery helicopter | 45 | 1990 | 45 in CG-9’s count; 51 in one Wikipedia table. 45 new hulls are under contract. | ||
| Airbus (Aerospatiale) MH-65E DolphinIn service | Short-range recovery helicopter | 90 | 1985 | 90 aircraft completed the life extension and MH-65E upgrade; the number still flying falls as stations convert to the MH-60T. | ||
| Lockheed Martin HC-130J HerculesIn service | Long-range surveillance and search and rescue | 19 | 2003 | 19 accepted by 10 April 2026; 25 funded. Wikipedia’s tables give 12 and 17. | ||
| Lockheed HC-130B/E/H HerculesIn service | Long-range search and rescue | 1959 | 14 in Wikipedia’s Coast Guard table; number at October 2026 not confirmed. | |||
| Airbus (EADS CASA) HC-144A/B Ocean SentryIn service | Medium-range maritime patrol | 18 | 2006 | 18 built; split A/B differs between sources (15 A and 3 B, or 18 B). | ||
| Leonardo (Alenia) HC-27J SpartanIn service | Medium-range maritime patrol | 14 | 2014 | Fourteen C-27Js surplus to the Air Force were transferred from November 2014; the first in Coast Guard colours was delivered in April 2016 and the first fully missionised HC-27J flew in September 2023.
MoreWikipedia reports that the Coast Guard plans to decommission them by the end of fiscal 2028. |
||
| Gulfstream C-37A (Gulfstream V) and C-37B (Gulfstream 550)In service | Command and control transport | 2 | 2002 | One of each. The C-37A entered Coast Guard service in 2002. |
On order
| Type | Ordered | First delivery | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lockheed Martin HC-130J HerculesOn order | 6 | 2003 | 25 funded; 19 accepted by 10 April 2026, so six remain if the appropriation is fully built. Delivery dates for the rest were not published. | |
| Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk (new hulls and conversions)On order | 2024 | 45 new hulls are under contract and the Coast Guard is to produce 36 aircraft itself to convert eight Dolphin stations; Wikipedia gives a target fleet of up to 127.
MoreIn 2025 the Coast Guard announced it would award Sikorsky a new contract. |
||
| General Atomics MQ-9A ReaperOn order | 4 | Wikipedia’s list of active US military aircraft says the Coast Guard is to procure up to four with fiscal 2025 funds; not confirmed on an official page in this check. |
Every type the United States Coast Guard Aviation has retired
26 types, from the Curtiss NC-4 and Navy flying boats (HS-2L, N-9) to the Sikorsky HH-60J Jayhawk. Peak figures are airframes taken on charge over the whole service life, not fleet strength on any one date.
| Type | Role | Peak | Served | Replaced by | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sikorsky HH-60J Jayhawk | Medium-range recovery helicopter | 42 | 1990–2014 | MH-60T | Rebuilt as MH-60T between 2007 and February 2014. One was lost off Unalaska on 8 December 2004 when a wave broke over the Selendang Ayu; six of the ship’s crew aboard were killed. | |
| Dassault HU-25 Guardian (Falcon 20) | Medium-range surveillance jet | 41 | 1982–2014 | HC-144A, HC-27J | The only jet the Coast Guard has flown in its operational fleet; variants for pollution (HU-25B) and drug interdiction (HU-25C, D). Deployed in the 1991 Gulf War.
MoreThe last one retired on 26 September 2014. |
|
| Agusta MH-68A Stingray | Armed interdiction helicopter | 8 | 2000–2008 | MH-65C | Leased for HITRON from December 2000 to February 2008. | |
| MD Helicopters MH-90 Enforcer | Armed interdiction helicopter (trials) | 1998–1999 | Leased MD900/902s used in the 1998 proof of concept that led to HITRON; in that phase the unit stopped all five go-fasts it met. | |||
| Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard | Amphibious rescue helicopter | 99 | 1963–1989 | HH-65A | Boat-hulled and able to land on water; credited with saving more than 15,000 people in 26 years, among them about 1,200 after Hurricane Betsy in 1965. | |
| Boeing PB-1G (B-17G Flying Fortress) | Long-range search and rescue, ice patrol | 1946–1958 | Flew International Ice Patrol reconnaissance from 1947 to 1958. | |||
| Curtiss NC-4 and Navy flying boats (HS-2L, N-9) | Navy aircraft flown by Coast Guard aviators | 1917–1921 | Coast Guard aviators flew Navy aircraft during the First World War; Stone was a pilot of the NC-4 in May 1919. Morehead City used five borrowed aircraft in 1920. | |||
| Sikorsky HH-3F Pelican | Long-range recovery helicopter | 40 | 1967– | HH-60J | Ordered in 1965 and in service from 1967 until the 1990s, when the HH-60J replaced it; on 18 February 1979 CG-1432 ditched off Cape Cod and four of its crew died.
More |
|
| Grumman HU-16E Albatross (UF-1G/2G) | Amphibian, search and rescue | 1951– | HU-25 | The postwar workhorse amphibian; replaced by the HU-25 from February 1982. One is preserved at Clearwater. Its retirement date was not confirmed. | ||
| Convair HC-131A Samaritan | Medium-range search and transport | 1976– | ||||
| Grumman E-2C Hawkeye | Airborne early warning for drug interdiction | 1987– | ||||
| Sikorsky HUS-1G (HH-34F) Seahorse | Rescue helicopter | 1959– | ||||
| Sikorsky HO4S-2G/3G | Rescue helicopter | 37 | 1951– | 14 HO4S-1/2 followed by 23 HO4S-3G. | ||
| Sikorsky HO3S-1G and HO5S-1G | Rescue helicopter | 1946– | ||||
| Sikorsky HNS-1 Hoverfly | First rescue helicopter | 1943– | Frank Erickson flew blood plasma in an HNS-1 to survivors of USS Turner on 3 January 1944, the first lifesaving use of a helicopter. | |||
| Martin P5M-1G/2G Marlin | Flying boat, search and rescue | 1954– | Seven P5M-1Gs, then P5M-2Gs. | |||
| Martin PBM-3/5 Mariner | Flying boat, patrol and rescue | 24 | 1943– | Postwar figure. | ||
| Consolidated PBY-5/5A/6A Catalina | Amphibian, patrol and rescue | 56 | 1941– | Postwar peak. | ||
| Consolidated PB4Y-1 Liberator | Long-range patrol | 1945– | Also used on early ice patrol flights in 1946. | |||
| Consolidated P4Y-2G Privateer | Air-sea rescue | 1945– | ||||
| Douglas R5D Skymaster and R4D Skytrain | Transport and ice patrol | 1946– | R5Ds flew ice patrol 1959–1963. | |||
| Vought OS2U-3 Kingfisher | Anti-submarine patrol | 53 | 1942– | Bought in spring 1942 for coastal anti-submarine patrols. | ||
| Curtiss SB2C Helldiver | Wartime patrol | 1944– | Listed in the Coast Guard aircraft catalogue from 1944; numbers not given. | |||
| Grumman J4F Widgeon, JRF Goose and J2F Duck | Utility amphibians | 1934– | A J4F-1 Widgeon was credited in 1942 with sinking U-166; the credit went to PC-566 in 2014. | |||
| Hall PH-2/PH-3 and General Aviation PJ-1/2 flying boats | Rescue flying boats | 1932– | Three PH-2s were among Elizabeth City’s first ten aircraft in 1940. | |||
| Vought UO-1/UO-4 and Loening OL-5 | Patrol seaplanes (rum war) | 1926– | The first Coast Guard-owned aircraft of the Prohibition patrols. |
Where United States Coast Guard Aviation flies from
Black pins are active bases, hollow pins the airfields that have closed. Elizabeth City, commissioned on 15 August 1940 with ten aircraft, is the hub of Coast Guard aviation, and Kodiak covers about four million square miles of Alaskan sea from a base the Navy handed over in 1972. Clearwater is the largest air station by Wikipedia’s account, and Cape Cod is a tenant on Otis Air National Guard Base. Ten Pound Island, where flying took root against the rum-runners in 1925, and Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field, the wartime helicopter school, have closed. Entries with no published aerodrome data carry no pin.
The United States
3 of the 10 bases above sit outside the United States, so the world map has to pull back until the home airfields cannot be told apart. The same pins again, without the overseas bases.
| Base | ICAO | Status | Runway | Units and aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coast Guard Air Station Barbers PointHawaii | PHJR | Active | 11/292,550 m04R/22L2,435 m04L/22R1,373 m |
|
| Coast Guard Air Station ClearwaterFlorida | KPIE | Active | 18/362,966 masphalt, grooved04/221,829 masphalt, grooved |
|
| Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth CityNorth Carolina | KECG | Active | 10/282,200 mconcrete01/191,377 masphalt and concrete (closed indefinitely, faa data of september 2026) |
|
| Coast Guard Air Station KodiakAlaska | PADQ | Active | 08/262,296 masphalt, grooved11/291,646 masphalt, grooved01/191,527 masphalt, grooved |
|
| Coast Guard Air Station MiamiFlorida | KOPF | Active | 09L/27R2,439 masphalt, grooved12/302,073 masphalt, grooved09R/27L1,313 masphalt, grooved |
|
| Coast Guard Air Station SacramentoCalifornia | KMCC | Active | 16/343,231 mconcrete, grooved |
|
| Coast Guard Aviation Training Center MobileAlabama | KMOB | Active | 15/332,591 masphalt, grooved18/361,334 masphalt, grooved |
|
| Otis Air National Guard BaseMassachusetts | KFMH | Active | 05/232,440 m |
|
| Coast Guard Air Station Ten Pound IslandGloucesterMassachusetts | Closed |
|
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| Coast Guard Air Station BrooklynFloyd Bennett FieldNew York | Closed 1998 |
|
No air base matches that search.
Who is stationed where in the United States Coast Guard Aviation
Flying units by base, current units first. Coast Guard aviation is organised by air station rather than by squadron: each station, such as Kodiak with Hercules, Jayhawks and Dolphins on one ramp, is itself the flying unit. Where a station’s aircraft rest on Wikipedia alone, or the official CG-9 pages disagree with it, the entry says so.
- Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth CityAir station (search and rescue, patrol) · active
- HC-130J Hercules, MH-60T Jayhawk
- Aviation Logistics CenterDepot maintenance and supply · active
- Depot work on the whole fleet
- Aviation Technical Training CenterTechnical school · active
- No aircraft
- Coast Guard Air Station KodiakAir station (search and rescue, patrol) · active
- HC-130J Hercules, MH-60T Jayhawk, MH-65 Dolphin
- Aviation Training Center MobileTraining centre · active
- MH-60T Jayhawk, MH-65E Dolphin, HC-144 Ocean Sentry
- Coast Guard Air Station ClearwaterAir station (search and rescue, patrol) · active
- HC-130H Hercules, MH-60T Jayhawk
- Coast Guard Air Station MiamiAir station (search and rescue, patrol) · active
- HC-144A Ocean Sentry, MH-65 Dolphin
- Coast Guard Air Station SacramentoAir station (patrol, search and rescue) · active
- HC-27J Spartan, HC-130J Hercules
- Coast Guard Air Station Barbers PointAir station (search and rescue, patrol) · active
- HC-130J Hercules, MH-65E Dolphin
- Coast Guard Air Station Cape CodAir station (search and rescue, patrol) · active
- MH-60 Jayhawk, HC-144A Ocean Sentry
No unit matches that search.
United States Coast Guard Aviation milestones, 1914 to today
28 January: the Act to Create the Coast Guard is signed.
1 April: Lieutenant Elmer Stone receives orders for flight training at Pensacola.
6 April: the Coast Guard passes to the Navy for the First World War. 10 April: Stone graduates as Coast Guard Aviator No. 1.
May: Stone is one of the two pilots of the NC-4 on the first transatlantic flight.
An air station opens on Ten Pound Island, Gloucester, with a borrowed Navy aircraft, to fight rum-running; permanent stations follow there and at Cape May in 1926.
15 August: Air Station Elizabeth City is commissioned with ten aircraft.
1 November: the Coast Guard is transferred to the Navy by Executive Order 8929.
3 January: Frank Erickson flies plasma for USS Turner’s survivors in an HNS-1, the first lifesaving helicopter mission.
17 April: an air detachment with one PBY is set up at Naval Air Station Kodiak.
The first HC-130 Hercules joins the fleet.
The first of 99 amphibious HH-52A helicopters enters service.
9 June: Lt. Jack Rittichier, on exchange with the USAF, is shot down over Vietnam in Jolly Green 23.
November: the HH-65 Dolphin becomes operational; the HH-60J follows in June 1990.
HITRON, the armed helicopter squadron, is commissioned at Cecil Field, Jacksonville.
Hurricane Katrina: 76 Coast Guard and Auxiliary aircraft fly 1,817 sorties and save 12,535 people.
26 September: the last HU-25 jet retires; 14 C-27Js begin arriving from the Air Force in November.
19 August: the last MH-65E upgrade is delivered. 23 August: Air Station Ventura, the first new station in 25 years, receives its first MH-60T.
15 January: Kevin Lunday becomes the 28th Commandant. 10 April: the 19th HC-130J is accepted.
Every war United States Coast Guard Aviation has fought
Sorties and losses where the record gives them, and an honest blank where it does not.
- First World War 1917–1918 With the Coast Guard placed under the Navy on 6 April 1917, its handful of trained aviators flew Navy aircraft
- Prohibition patrols (the rum war) 1925–1933 Law-enforcement patrols spotting smuggling vessels for Coast Guard cutters
- Second World War 1939–1945 Neutrality patrols, coastal anti-submarine patrol and convoy cover, Greenland patrols, air-sea rescue and helicopter development
- Korean War 1950–1953 Search and rescue along the trans-Pacific air routes from new detachments
- Vietnam War 1968–1972 Combat search and rescue in USAF HH-3E and HH-53 helicopters and HC-130P aircraft
Everything people ask about the United States Coast Guard Aviation
What is the Coast Guard’s air arm called?
What aircraft does the US Coast Guard fly?
When did Coast Guard aviation start?
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Why is the Coast Guard retiring the MH-65 Dolphin?
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Does the Coast Guard have armed aircraft?
Who leads the Coast Guard?
Read the aircraft the United States Coast Guard Aviation flew
Every type with a page in the Book of Beasts, in service first, then by the year it left the fleet.
Every fact, checked
- Coast Guard Aviation History (Coast Guard Aviation Association, Ancient Order of the Pterodactyl)The service’s veterans’ association and its history archive; uses the name "Coast Guard Aviation".
- Coast Guard Aviation History: The Early Years, 1915–1938Act of 28 January 1915; Stone’s orders of 1 April 1916; Morehead City 1920; Ten Pound Island 1925; 50 aircraft and eight air stations by end of 1938.
- Coast Guard Aviation History: The Growth Years, 1939–1956Transfer to the Navy 1 November 1941; 53 Kingfishers; VP-6CG in Greenland; 61 bombing attacks on submarines; helicopter development; 127 aircraft by the mid-1950s.
- Coast Guard Aviation History: Coming of Age, 1957–1975HC-130B 1959; 99 HH-52A from 1963; HH-3F 1967; move to the Department of Transportation 1967; air stations opened 1962–1974.
- Coast Guard Aviation History: The Modern Era, 1976–1994HU-25 February 1982; HH-65 operational November 1985; HH-60J 1990; Desert Storm air detachment 1991; 101,729 lives saved 1976–1994.
- Coast Guard Aviation History: The Present Era, 1995–2018HITRON; transfer to DHS 1 March 2003; Katrina figures (76 aircraft, 1,817 sorties, 12,535 saved); HC-144A; 14 C-27Js in 2014.
- Coast Guard Aviation History: Aircraft catalogueEvery type flown, with the year it entered Coast Guard service.
- Coast Guard Aviation History: Coast Guard Aviation in VietnamExchange programme with USAF rescue from 1968; Rittichier lost 9 June 1968; 4 Silver Stars, 16 DFCs and 87 Air Medals.
- Coast Guard Aviation History: Historical narratives indexIndex of narratives on Vietnam, the Second World War and Hurricane Katrina.
- U.S. Coast Guard Acquisition Directorate (CG-9): Air programsProgramme overview: HC-144, HC-130J, MH-65E and MH-60T.
- U.S. Coast Guard CG-9: HC-130J long range surveillance aircraft25 appropriated; 18 operational in February 2026; 19th accepted 10 April 2026; 100,000 flight hours on 8 July 2025.
- U.S. Coast Guard CG-9: MH-60T medium range recovery helicopter45 MH-60Ts; SLEP from 2017; 45 new hulls under contract; first MH-60T to Air Station Ventura 23 August 2024; 13 T700 engines ordered 8 September 2025.
- U.S. Coast Guard CG-9: MH-65 short range recovery helicopter90th and last MH-65E conversion delivered 19 August 2024; phase-out planned in fiscal years 2035–2039.
- AirNav: KECG Elizabeth City Coast Guard Air Station/Regional Airport (FAA airport data as republished by AirNav.com, effective 3 September 2026)Reference point, elevation 10.6 ft, runways 10/28 (7,219 ft) and 1/19 (4,518 ft, closed indefinitely); the Coast Guard owns and operates all runways.
- AirNav: PADQ Kodiak Airport (FAA airport data as republished by AirNav.com, effective 3 September 2026)Reference point, elevation 78.7 ft, runways 8/26 (7,534 ft), 11/29 (5,400 ft), 1/19 (5,010 ft); owned by Alaska DOT&PF.
- AirNav: KMOB Mobile Regional Airport (FAA airport data as republished by AirNav.com, effective 1 October 2026)Reference point, elevation 218.7 ft, runways 15/33 (8,502 ft) and 18/36 (4,376 ft); Coast Guard aprons.
- AirNav: KPIE St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (FAA airport data as republished by AirNav.com, effective 1 October 2026)Reference point, elevation 10.7 ft, runways 18/36 (9,730 ft) and 4/22 (6,000 ft).
- AirNav: KOPF Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (FAA airport data as republished by AirNav.com, effective 1 October 2026)Reference point, elevation 8 ft, runways 9L/27R, 12/30, 9R/27L; Coast Guard ramp by prior permission.
- AirNav: KMCC McClellan Airfield (FAA airport data as republished by AirNav.com, effective 1 October 2026)Reference point, elevation 76.8 ft, runway 16/34 (10,599 ft).
- AirNav: PHJR Kalaeloa Airport (John Rodgers Field) (FAA airport data as republished by AirNav.com, effective 3 September 2026)Reference point, elevation 32.3 ft, runways 11/29, 4R/22L, 4L/22R; Coast Guard helipad near 4R.
- FAA airport and runway dataSource of the coordinates and runway already published on the existing Otis row (united-states-air-force.json), reused unchanged.
Figures verified 2026-10-01. Order of Battle pages are regenerated from a single dataset; if a number here disagrees with a Book of Beasts page, this page is the more recent of the two.
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