Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod is a

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, m ...

air station located on Joint Base Cape Cod in

Sandwich, Massachusetts Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. The town motto is ''Post tot Naufracia Portus'', "after so many shipwrecks, a haven". The population was 20,259 at the 2020 census. History Cape Cod wa ...

. It operates from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to the Canada–US border. It was founded in 1970 as a replacement to Coast Guard Air Station Salem.

Missions

The missions of CGAS Cape Cod include

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

(SAR), maritime law enforcement,

International Ice Patrol The International Ice Patrol is an organization with the purpose of monitoring the presence of icebergs in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and reporting their movements for safety purposes. It is operated by United States Coast Guard but is f ...

, aids to navigation support (such as operating

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses m ...

s), and marine environmental protection (such as responding to

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into t ...

s). Currently, CGAS Cape Cod maintains and operates the

HC-144 Ocean Sentry The EADS HC-144 Ocean Sentry is a medium-range, twin-engined turboprop aircraft used by the United States Coast Guard in the search-and-rescue and maritime patrol missions. Based on the Airbus Military CN-235, it was procured as a "Medium Range ...

aircraft, along with

HH-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 orig ...

helicopters.

History

Beginnings

In the 1950s, helicopters began to be incorporated into the Coast Guard. One such helicopter, the

H-25A Army Mule The Piasecki HUP Retriever/H-25 Army Mule is a compact single radial engine, twin overlapping tandem rotor utility helicopter developed by the Piasecki Helicopter Corporation of Morton, Pennsylvania. Designed to a United States Navy specification ...

was built with amphibious capabilities. Float planes were no longer needed because of this development. Therefore, places like Coast Guard Air Station Salem were slowly being phased out. In the 1960s, the Coast Guard began searching for a replacement facility for Coast Guard Air Station Salem, that was in service from 1935 to 1970. Salem was not able to expand, and the Coast Guard needed a space that could grow as needed and accommodate modern aircraft.

1970–1995

In 1968, the Department of Defense agreed to allow the Coast Guard to utilize Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod for a new Coast Guard air station. Air Station Cape Cod was officially established/commissioned on August 29, 1970. The

HH-3F Pelican The Sikorsky S-61R is a twin-engine helicopter used in transport or search and rescue roles. A developed version of the S-61/SH-3 Sea King, the S-61R was also built under license by Agusta as the AS-61R. The S-61R served in the United States A ...

s and HU-16E Albatrosses were transferred from CGAS Salem and CGAD Quonset Point Rhode Island (NAS) to Cape Cod in the summer of 1970. On February 18, 1979, a Pelican CG-1432 crashed into the sea while engaged in a medical evacuation of an injured seaman from a fishing vessel 180 miles southeast of Cape Cod. Personnel killed in the incident were Lieutenant Commander James Stiles (Aircraft Commander), Capt. G. Richard Burge (Canadian Forces Exchange Co-Pilot), Petty Officer 2nd Class John Tait (Avionicsman/Navigator), and Petty Officer 2nd Class Bruce Kaehler (Hospital Corpsman). The HH-3F Pelican continued in service until replaced by the

in the 90s The last HH-52A Seaguard helicopters were transferred from CGAD Salem to CGAS Cape Cod in late 1970 and were phased out prior to the Jayhawk coming on board. The

HU-25 Guardian The Dassault Falcon 20 is a French business jet developed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. The first business jet developed by the firm, it became the first of a family of business jets to be produced under the same name; of these, both t ...

s arrived at CGAS Cape Cod, in 1982, replacing the HU-16E Albatross. The last Albatross, CGNR 7250, was retired on March 10, 1983 and is on display outside the entrance to the air station. CG 7250/NC 7250 was not only the last Coast Guard Albatross, but the last fixed-wing amphibious aircraft in US inventory.

Crash of Helo CG-1432

The CG-1432 crash was a

aviation accident which involved five crewmembers aboard a helicopter responding to a distress call from the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese

fishing vessel A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing. The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was ...

''Kaisei Maru #18''. On the morning of February 18, 1979, ''Kaisei Maru #18'' sent a distress call. The call indicated that a 47-year-old crewmember was in distress and needed to be airlifted off the ship, which was operating in the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. The U.S. Coast Guard Sikorsky HH-3F Pelican helicopter CG-1432 from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod at

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, was alerted and sent out to the vessel. The weather that morning was stormy and conditions were not ideal for flight. On the way to ''Kasei Maru #18'', the helicopter was forced to

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

into the sea after losing power. It remained stable for a brief time before the heavy seas flipped it. This most likely caused the death of four crew members:

Canadian Armed Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

G. Richard Burge and U.S. Coast Guard personnel

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

James Stiles, Petty Officer Second Class John Tait, and Petty Officer Second Class Bruce Kaehler. The lone survivor, Petty Officer Second Class Mark Torr (Flight Mechanic/Hoist Operator), remembers the flipping of the helicopter and swimming out, holding onto the nose wheel to stay near the aircraft. The first vessel to the rescue was ''Kaisei Maru #18'', which rescued Torr and circled the ditched helicopter for 15 hours, looking for survivors and eventually recovering the bodies of the four dead crewmembers. CG-1432 crash memorial

In an article in the ''

Cape Cod Times The ''Cape Cod Times'' is a broadsheet daily newspaper serving Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, which encompasses 15 towns on Cape Cod with a year-round population of about 230,000. It is owned by Gannett, which also owns several ...

'' that ran on February 22, 1979, the air stations

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

Arthur Wagner, said, "They will never be forgotten. They set down a high standard for all of us to follow." A legacy was set in which a reunion would be held every year so that the men would not be forgotten. A memorial was erected in 1980 at the entrance to Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod. At the 2009 reunion,

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

John Currier, who was stationed at Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod in 1979, recalled telling pilot James Stiles to "fly safe." It was the last time that he ever said that to a pilot. Also at service, crash survivor Mark Torr dropped a wreath in memory of his fellow airmen from a hovering helicopter into the surf off of

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

, Massachusetts.

1995–present

The air station has participated in rescues of sailors from Canada to New York. The Coast Guard has replaced the HU-25 with the

.CGAS Cape Cod information at AtlanticArea.uscg.mil
/ref>

Notable persons

Daniel C. Burbank Daniel Christopher Burbank (born July 27, 1961) is a retired American astronaut and a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions. Burbank, a Captain in the United States Coast Guard, is the second Coast Guard astronaut after Bruce Melnick. Early li ...

- former helicopter pilot, now a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

astronaut

References

External links

* {{US Coast Guard navbox 1970 establishments in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Sandwich, Massachusetts Military installations established in 1970 Military installations in Massachusetts United States Coast Guard Air Stations United States Coast Guard Aviation