liner crashed near Gander, Newfound- 

 land, in wilderness that was inaccessible 

 except to a helicopter. This rescue was a 

 combined operation with the helicopter 

 ferrying the 18 survivors to a nearby lake 

 where a Coast Guard flying boat took 

 them aboard and flew them on the last lap 

 to civilization. 



The Coast Guard has had a hand in 

 aviation from the very beginning. When 

 the Wright brothers made their historic 

 first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, three 

 members of the nearby Kill Devil Lifeboat 

 Station were on hand. One of them 

 snapped a picture of the plane while it 

 was in the air, and after the flight, when 

 a wind flipped the plane over and threat- 

 ened to wreck it, all three grabbed it and 

 helped secure it safely. 



Air group formed, 1916 



By 1916, the Coast Guard had its own 

 aviation division, which has grown until 

 today it has nine air stations, three air 

 facilities, and twelve air detachments. 



Since 1938, the Coast Guard has taken 

 special measures to protect trans-ocean air- 

 liners in its traditional activities to insure 

 safety at sea. By 1940, the Coast Guard 

 had developed an "Outline of Procedure" 

 which provided coordination of safety 

 operations by all agencies concerned, 

 maintenance of a ship and plane position 

 center, activation of the Coast Guard's 

 distress organization, and transmission 

 and dissemination of information. 



In 1944, an interdepartmental inter- 

 agency Air-Sea Rescue Agency was set 

 up with the Coast Guard Commandant at 

 its head. This agency was primarily en- 

 gaged in research and development of 

 rescue procedures. Since the war, the work 

 has been continued by the Coast Guard. 



Adoption of the National Search and 

 Rescue plan in 1956 reaffirmed the Coast 

 Guard's responsibility in coordination of 

 rescue operations in the vast maritime 

 regions. 



To And the lost, to help the injured, to 

 save the imperiled — this is the mission of 

 Coast Guard aviation. 



^ ^;:^^ 43?^SS^ - ^%^^ ^^^^s^S^^isSr ^^-^ 



Helicopter 

 hovers, lets 

 down life-lift. 



