U. S. Coast Guard Aircraft Since 1916

Following on from the success of US Coast Guard Aviation, Arthur Pearcy has produced a book which details all the aircraft used since the US Coast Guard introduced its air arm in 1916.
In 1920, the Coast Guard assumed custody of some naval air station buildings at Morehead City, North Carolina. Six Curtiss HS-2L flying boats were borrowed from the US Navy and were operated for fifteen months.
The first of its own air stations was opened in 1925 when they borrowed a single Chance Vought UO-1 seaplane from the US Navy. Success with this aircraft resulted in the purchase of the first five aircraft the USCG ever owned.
Aviation in the Coast Guard continued to grow and in 1931 aircraft were acquired which were suited to its specific needs. By 1940 the USCG had fifty aircraft, many built especially to meet Coast Guard specifications. Some weeks prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor the USCG was transferred to the US Navy and operated US Navy aircraft. Those retained and utilised after World War II were gradually replaced by more modern types. By this time the first USCG helicopters, the Sikorsky HNS-1, were in service with the USCG.
The flying boat, long associated with the Coast Guard, was gradually replaced by the helicopter, which accounts for approximately sixty per cent of the flying hours. The remaining flight hours are flown by the Lockheed HC-130H Hercules and the HU-25 Guardian. In 1988 the US Navy loaned the USCG two Grumman E-2C Hawkeye aircraft for use in the drug interdiction programme. Over the years the US Coast Guard Aviation has operated ninety different types of aircraft. The main part of this volume comprises descriptions of those types, each accompanied by one or more photographs. Included are chapters on the designation systems used by the Coast Guard, the colours and markings used and a specially devised designation index providing an immediate cross reference to every designated aircraft used by this fifth military air arm of the United States.


by Arthur Pearcy
Published by Airlife 1991 1st edition 330pp profusely illustrated, mint, including d/j.

***Signed and inscribed by the Author***





Note:
"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "new edition" "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.