Casco Cove Coast Guard Station was a military facility and private use

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

Attu Island Attu ( ale, Atan, russian: Атту, link=no) is an island in the Near Islands (part of the Aleutian Islands chain). It is the westernmost point of the U.S. state of Alaska. The island became uninhabited in 2010, making it the largest uninhabite ...

, one of the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. Owned by 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 ...

, Casco Cove CGS is located west of

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. Also known as LORAN Station Attu, the facility was closed on August 27, 2010, but the airfield remains available for emergency use.

History

Established as Naval Air Facility Attu on June 7, 1943, just seven days after Attu Island was declared secured. The base was built by

Seabees United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...

of the Naval Construction Battalion 4.

Overview

The Casco Cove Airport was a

LORAN LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range u ...

navigation station operated by the United States Coast Guard. The USCG personnel lived in a group quarters facility. There were no families stationed at Attu. All services needed for staff in this facility were available. Electricity was provided by USCG Generator. Auxiliary health care was provided by USCG emergency medical staff. Casco Cove is one of the most isolated and remote airports in the United States. Flying into and taking off from the airport was hazardous, as the weather is characterized by persistently overcast skies, high winds, and frequent cyclonic storms. Winter squalls produce wind gusts in excess of 100 knots (115 mph). During the summer, extensive fog forms over the Bering Sea and North Pacific. The island is protected as part of the National Parks Trust territory and few people visit the island or area, as it is restricted. Gun emplacements for over twenty guns are still present around the airfield.

Facilities

Casco Cove CGS resides at

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 88 feet (27 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

designated 2/20 with an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

surface measuring 5,998 by 150 feet (1,828 x 46 m).

Incidents

* 1 January 1945, 2nd Lt. Robert L. Nesmith flying from Alexai Point, crashed his Lockheed P-38G-10-LO Lightning in Temnac Valley, just west of Attu Station, while on a low-level training mission over Attu. This aircraft was recovered in 1999 and is now static-restored and on display at

Elmendorf AFB Elmendorf Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) facility in Anchorage, Alaska. Originally known as Elmendorf Field, it became Elmendorf Air Force Base after World War II. It is the home of the Headquarters, Alaskan Air Command (AL ...

. * 30 July 1982, a

US 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, multi ...

HC-130 transport crashed just south of the station, killing 2 of the 11 onboardhttps://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19820730-1. Debris can still be seen via Google Maps.

References

External links