More Coast Guard Aircraft History

jdvoss · **Posted:** Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:04 pm

As we seem to be on the subject of 1930's era aircraft I recalled that I have this crisp photo of a Douglas O-38. It's a factory fresh airplane photographed at the Douglas factory in Santa Monica, California

JDV
http://www.fuselagecodes.com

CoastieJohn · **Joined:** Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:37 pm **Posts:** 1380

Haven't seen that pic yet. Another good one!

Here is more info on LT Luke Christopher and it includes that specific airframe. Those documents you see are from his service record we received.

http://dmairfield.com/people/christopher_ll/index.html

https://www.uscg.mil/history/aviation/D ... s_O38C.pdf

jdvoss · **Posted:** Mon Mar 06, 2017 9:49 pm

Coastie John,

Incredible that you found the original travel orders for the pick up of the aircraft in 1931! I checked the Wikipedia file for the O-38 and it commented that the USCG acquired only one of the type. Apparently the A/C was lost in a crash in 1934...nice looking aircraft.
The reason this photo has not been published before is that it is an official factory photo and no doubt taken just prior to delivery.

JDV
www.fuselagecodes.com

CoastieJohn · **Joined:** Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:37 pm **Posts:** 1380

I was going thru my files and came across this one. This is the A-1. Another pic of it is at one of the links I provided earlier. It was one of the border patrol planes.

Some misc pics....

High quality aerial of Ten Pound Island....1st CG Air Station.

LT John Pritchard looking at the J2F-4 #1640 sometime prior to his crash on the ice cap.

airnutz · **Posted:** Wed Mar 08, 2017 1:13 pm

CoastieJohn wrote:

airnutz wrote:

CoastieJohn wrote:

That airplane with the horizontal striped tail has me a little curious. The caption says it is a USA plane. I thought it was mostly the Navy and CG that had striped tails although I could be all wet on that. The CG used vert stripes however if we got some of our early planes from the Navy anything is possible.

It can be confusing CoastieJohn, here's a quick spotter sheet on the Wiki 2/3rds down the page...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... l_insignia

Thanks for the link. Yes...it is confusing unless you have a chart to refer to and know the year.

Yes, the chart helps. My dad was an aircraft nut born in 1933, and this period was the history he enthused over as well as WW2 and later, so the fin flashes were a common sight to me...even tho the service and period changes could be confusing. Plenty of reference to look it up tho. He was later a Coastie as well and served for a short time aboard a PBM at the end of Korea in the US.
Off topic, but he told of one crew member who doubled as the mess cook on the long patrols who was prosecuted for Dereliction of Duty on one of their flights. He had a fire in the galley and when he couldn't quickly snuff it, he thought the worst, donned his chute, and bailed out of the aircraft. The rest of the crew put the fire out, and put the call out about their AWOL crewmember who was recovered on land somewhere near San Diego.

jdvoss · **Posted:** Wed Mar 08, 2017 5:14 pm

Coastie John,

Here are two more files from Freeman's abandoned airfield site that you may find of interest:

CGAS Miami: http://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/FL/Airf ... #dinnerkey

CGAS Salem: http://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/MA/Airf ... .htm#salem

JDV
www.fuselagecodes.com

CoastieJohn · **Joined:** Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:37 pm **Posts:** 1380

Thanks.....as always interesting stuff.

CoastieJohn · **Joined:** Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:37 pm **Posts:** 1380

airnutz wrote:

Yes, the chart helps. My dad was an aircraft nut born in 1933, and this period was the history he enthused over as well as WW2 and later, so the fin flashes were a common sight to me...even tho the service and period changes could be confusing. Plenty of reference to look it up tho. He was later a Coastie as well and served for a short time aboard a PBM at the end of Korea in the US.
Off topic, but he told of one crew member who doubled as the mess cook on the long patrols who was prosecuted for Dereliction of Duty on one of their flights. He had a fire in the galley and when he couldn't quickly snuff it, he thought the worst, donned his chute, and bailed out of the aircraft. The rest of the crew put the fire out, and put the call out about their AWOL crewmember who was recovered on land somewhere near San Diego.

Does your dad (or you) by chance still have his logbooks. I'd like to learn more about that story of the cook bailing out and anything else interesting in your dad's logbook. We have a program where we scan old CG logbooks to preservation. We have some old ones going way back.

airnutz · **Posted:** Thu Mar 09, 2017 4:56 pm

CoastieJohn wrote:

Does your dad (or you) by chance still have his logbooks. I'd like to learn more about that story of the cook bailing out and anything else interesting in your dad's logbook. We have a program where we scan old CG logbooks to preservation. We have some old ones going way back.

Since his passing last year, we've not yet been able to locate his logbooks. Only a couple of days ago I found a file box of his early work histories. Tho he talked about the PBM the most, this morning I found out as he also flew in PBY's, JRF Goose, and UF-1 Albatross and accrued about 300 hrs while crossing over from a Gunners Mate to Aviation Ordnanceman, before in his words, "Reduction in allowable flying positions caused my return to the surface fleet". A few years later, he flew with the Air Force Reserve from '59 to '64 totaling 1350 hrs on the C-119C. I'll keep you in mind if/when we find his logs. I'm very curious about them myself, as he got around quite a bit and was an officer/mechanic private pilot in 3 aeroclubs as well as the EAA thru the years.

CoastieJohn · **Joined:** Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:37 pm **Posts:** 1380

airnutz wrote:

CoastieJohn wrote:

Does your dad (or you) by chance still have his logbooks. I'd like to learn more about that story of the cook bailing out and anything else interesting in your dad's logbook. We have a program where we scan old CG logbooks to preservation. We have some old ones going way back.

Since his passing last year, we've not yet been able to locate his logbooks. Only a couple of days ago I found a file box of his early work histories. Tho he talked about the PBM the most, this morning I found out as he also flew in PBY's, JRF Goose, and UF-1 Albatross and accrued about 300 hrs while crossing over from a Gunners Mate to Aviation Ordnanceman, before in his words, "Reduction in allowable flying positions caused my return to the surface fleet". A few years later, he flew with the Air Force Reserve from '59 to '64 totaling 1350 hrs on the C-119C. I'll keep you in mind if/when we find his logs. I'm very curious about them myself, as he got around quite a bit and was an officer/mechanic private pilot in 3 aeroclubs as well as the EAA thru the years.

Sounds interesting. Logbooks can tell ya alot of info not just about what the person flew on but the airframe BUNO's and missions. Thanks for the thought and hopefully you can find them. Standing by...John

armyjunk2 · **Joined:** Wed May 16, 2007 8:15 pm **Posts:** 833

Hello folks, Anyone have any idea what is going on here, its the CGC Arbutus loading/unloading a NYPD chopper. Any more details appreciated, this might be in the Floyd Bennett Field area... BTW The Arbutus is tied up at Pier 25 downtown NYC......A 1930's steam vessel..

jdvoss · **Posted:** Fri Mar 10, 2017 11:31 am

CoastieJohn,

Yes, my files continue to reveal more USCG info...

I discovered that Paul Freeman's abandoned airfield website did indeed have an entry for CGAS Ten Pound Island. It has an interesting history in that it was established during the Prohibition era for the purpose of patrolling for vessels that were "running rum".

http://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/MA/Airf ... m#TenPound

Also, I found this snapshot of CGAS Elizabeth City seaplane ramp circa 1941-42. Note the three PBY's, two Hall PH's and four OS2U Kingfisher's.

CoastieJohn · **Joined:** Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:37 pm **Posts:** 1380

armyjunk2 wrote:

Hello folks, Anyone have any idea what is going on here, its the CGC Arbutus loading/unloading a NYPD chopper. Any more details appreciated, this might be in the Floyd Bennett Field area... BTW The Arbutus is tied up at Pier 25 downtown NYC......A 1930's steam vessel..

If you have a date to go with that pic, you can research it at the below Brooklyn News paper site. You may also be able to search certain terms and find it. This an excellent research resource. My guess is the helo had a problem and the CGC Arbutus recovered it from the water and we see it being delivered back to the dock.

https://bklyn.newspapers.com/search/#

CoastieJohn · **Joined:** Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:37 pm **Posts:** 1380

jdvoss wrote:

CoastieJohn,

Yes, my files continue to reveal more USCG info...

I discovered that Paul Freeman's abandoned airfield website did indeed have an entry for CGAS Ten Pound Island. It has an interesting history in that it was established during the Prohibition era for the purpose of patrolling for vessels that were "running rum".

http://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/MA/Airf ... m#TenPound

Also, I found this snapshot of CGAS Elizabeth City seaplane ramp circa 1941-42. Note the three PBY's, two Hall PH's and four OS2U Kingfisher's.

I've got that ECity pic somewhere. I have seen a pic, might even have it stashed somewhere, of many PBY's parked/staged at ECity waiting to go somewhere. I can't remember what the deal was but there were many PBY's parked. Maybe waiting to proceed out to the op area somewhere?

jdvoss · **Posted:** Fri Mar 10, 2017 5:11 pm

Coastie John,

RE: PBY's in the above photo

I did read a book written by a RCAF Ferry pilot who commented that he frequently picked up Lend Lease Catalina's for the RAF at ECity. If I look closely at the PBY's the national insignia is displayed aft of the blister and show a high vertical fin flash which was characteristic of RAF A/C.

JDV
http://www.fuselagecodes.com

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