Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak is an Air Station of the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

located in

Kodiak, Alaska Kodiak (Alutiiq: , russian: Кадьяк), formerly Paul's Harbor, is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside wo ...

. It is the largest in the service's Pacific Area, with a crew of 85 officers and 517 enlisted personnel, and the largest Coast Guard Base in terms of physical size at 23,000 acres. It is a tenant command of Base Support Unit Kodiak, and shares its airfield with

Kodiak Airport Kodiak Benny Benson State Airport is a public and military use airport located four nautical miles (5 mi, 7 km) southwest of the central business district of Kodiak, a city on Kodiak Island in the U.S. state of Alaska. The airp ...

. The station operates

MH-60 Jayhawk The Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk is a multi-mission, twin-engine, medium-range helicopter operated by the United States Coast Guard for search and rescue, law enforcement, military readiness and marine environmental protection missions. It was ori ...

and

MH-65 Dolphin The Eurocopter MH-65 Dolphin is a twin-engined helicopter operated by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) for medevac-capable search and rescue (SAR) and armed Airborne Use of Force missions. It is a variant of the French-built Eurocopter AS3 ...

helicopters, and the

HC-130 Hercules The Lockheed HC-130 is an extended-range, search and rescue (SAR)/combat search and rescue (CSAR) version of the C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, with two different versions operated by two separate services in the U.S. armed forc ...

fixed-wing aircraft.

History

The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

started construction of a naval air station at Kodiak in September 1939, and the station was commissioned on 15 June 1941. Home to

PBY The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served w ...

patrol squadrons early in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Kodiak supported the Aleutian Islands Campaign of 1943, also operating scouting and air transport squadrons. In October 1950, NAS Kodiak was redesignated as Naval Station Kodiak, and in 1972 the site was turned over to the U.S. Coast Guard. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak was originally commissioned as an Air Detachment in April 1947, with seven pilots and 30 enlisted men operating a single

PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...

. This was the Coast Guard's first aircraft permanently stationed in Alaska.

Operations

The station's primary mission is aerial search and rescue in a area of responsibility covering the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, ...

Bristol Bay Bristol Bay ( esu, Iilgayaq, russian: Залив Бристольский) is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, ( ...

, the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...

, and Alaska's Pacific coast. It is also responsible for patrolling offshore fisheries, deploying HH-65 helicopters aboard

High Endurance Cutter The designation of high endurance cutter (WHEC) was created in 1965 when the United States Coast Guard adopted its own designation system. High endurance cutters encompass the largest cutters previously designated by the United States Navy as gu ...

s operating off Alaska, and providing logistical support to various Coast Guard units in the area. The latter mission includes transporting aids to navigation personnel who maintain remote shore beacons that are only accessible by air.

Popular culture

CGAS Kodiak is one of the main locations of the 2006

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

''The Guardian'', starring

Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a S ...

, and Melissa Sagemiller. However, the film was shot at Air Station Elizabeth City in North Carolina, with snow being brought in by trucks to resemble an Alaskan landscape. The

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...

for the film is the

and their

Aviation Survival Technician Aviation Survival Technician (AST) is a rating or job specialty in the United States Coast Guard. Rescue swimmer is the collateral duty or aircrew position of the AST. They are trained at the U.S. Coast Guard's enlisted Aviation Survival Techni ...

(AST) program.

References

External links

USCG history of CGAS KodiakLt Jimmy Zawrotny USCG about life at CGAS Kodiak (2002)
{{AKMilitary Buildings and structures in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Military installations in Alaska United States Coast Guard Air Stations Airports in Alaska 1947 establishments in Alaska Airports established in 1947