In the 1930s the Coast Guard began flying a series of coastal scouting type aircraft. These followed up on a number of one-off Curtis flying boats acquired after WWI. These craft included a number of Grumman amphibians including the Duck, Goose, and Widgeon. These flew from new Coast Guard Air Stations (including the one right near my childhood home in Biloxi, MS) through WWII (augmented by 53 O2U Kingfishers on loan from the Navy).
This Grumman Grumman JRF-5G Goose just screams Tales of the Golden Monkey
After the war, the Coast Guard replaced this hodgepodge of unsupportable aircraft with the HU-16 Albatross. The standard SAR plane of the rest of the military, these were the last seaplanes in the DoD (or Coast Guard’s) arsenal.
HU-16E Albatross from CGAS Cape Cod in flight, 1976. USCG photo
They proved yeoman’s service for over thirty years. However, by the Reagen years they were long in the tooth and were flying museum pieces.
The last HU-16 was retired in 1983, replaced by a modified business jet.
But it was one heck of a nice jet
(HU-25 2131 out of ATC Mobile)
In 1965 Dassault Aviation (the guys who built the Mirage) came up with the Falcon 20 business jet. A zippy sub-Mach jet with twin engines (always nice to have over water), it had a long range of over 1800NM with a low-impact support program.
The Coast Guard picked up some 41 of these jets, dubbed the HU-25 in service, starting in 1982 and it was used in search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, pollution response, and logistics missions. Over the years the USCG fielded at least four variants of these planes including some equipped with the APG-66 radar of the F-16 fighter.
Well its been a good run, but it is now come to an end after 32 years.
Did you note the FLIR pod and surface search radar on the belly as well as the observation window in the fuselage? Not your typical business jet anymore.
The Unites States Coast Guard retired its last operational HU-25 Guardian fixed-wing surveillance aircraft. Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi was the last unit to operate the HU-25 with the last Guardian in the Coast Guard’s inventory.
It conducted its final flyby Sept. 23, 2014 at 12:30. The type will now haunt the boneyards in Arizona with the exception of a few that NOAA and NASA are picking up.
Capt. Samuel Creech, the commanding officer of Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi salutes Rear Adm. John Korn, the 24th Coast Guard Ancient Albatross in a ceremony retiring the last operational HU-25 Falcon, Sept. 23, 2014. The ceremony marked the end of the Falcon’s 32 years of service. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Manda M. Emery)
These craft are being replaced by the CASA HC-144A Ocean Sentry as well as possibly the C-27 Spartan, shifted over from the USAF. As both Ocean Sentry and Spartan are prop-driven, the Guardian’s retirement will leave the Coast Guard with just two jets– the Gulfstream Vs used in transportation of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary and the Commandant of the Coast Guard.
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