Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas
Original Location:
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
Current Location:
N/A
Date of Commission:
20 November 1950
Fate:
Still in service
Historical Remarks:
The Coast Guard Air Station is co-located with Sector Corpus Christi offices in Hangar 41 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi Texas.
USCG Air Detachment Corpus Christi was established on 20 November 1950, and was later re-designated USCG Air Station Corpus Christi. Following extensive personnel and equipment changes in the operations department, Group Corpus Christi became fully operational on October 15, 1980. The Air Station then operated as one of thirteen Coast Guard Group units between Port O’Connor, Texas and the Mexican border.
Among the many missions handled by the Coast Guard Air Station, search and rescue missions always have the highest priority. As of 1980, the Air Station, which maintained a 24-hour capability to quickly launch an HH-52A helicopter or an HU-25A fanjet, averaged over 400 rescue cases a year. The station operated a total of three HH-52A helicopters and three HU-25A fanjets. Typical rescue missions included: searches for overdue vessels; assisting boats on fire, sinking or disabled; and medical evacuations from offshore oil rigs and vessels.
The Station’s aircrews frequently flew throughout the Group area on many missions other than search and. rescue. These missions include marine environmental protection, federal fisheries law enforcement and drug interdiction. Air Station crews enforced federal fisheries laws by flying frequent patrols throughout the U.S. fisheries conservation zone, which extended 200 miles offshore. Close coordination was maintained with the Air Station’s resident special agent from the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Marine drug interdiction was a joint mission of the Coast Guard Air Station, other federal agencies and the vessels assigned to time Group. In addition to local drug interdiction patrols, Air Station aircraft and crews also frequently deployed outside the South Texas area as far away as Florida and the Caribbean Sea to work with other Coast Guard units on law enforcement missions.
In the spring of 1986 the station's HH-52s were replaced with new HH-65A Aerospatiale twin engine "Dolphin" helicopters. Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi was commissioned in May of 2005 by joining all the units within the area of Port Lavaca throughout Brownsville under one unified command. The purpose of combining all the Coast Guard units into one Sector was to better manage the sweeping changes affecting the Coast Guard since 11 September 2006. CAPT John H. Korn assumed command at the commissioning ceremony held for Sector Corpus Christi on 13 May 2005.
Sector Corpus Christi personnel annually conducted over 450 search and rescue cases, assisted 591 people in distress, saved 83 lives, saved $3 million in property, seized over 5,500 lbs of drugs and 22 small craft conducting smuggling and illegal fishing, interdicted and detained over 130 illegal immigrants, maintained 1,300 aids to navigation, managed the safe arrival of 2,700 commercial vessels, conducted 900 facility visits, investigated 230 marine related incidents, performed 375 vessel inspections, and provided support for 37 Coast guard cutters and boats in the Atlantic Area fleet.
Historic Photo Gallery
Unless otherwise indicated all photos are official U.S. Coast Guard photographs. Any original caption information is included in the text beneath each photo, along with a date, if known.
Original photo caption: "Air Station Corpus Christi is located in a
corner of the Naval Air Station near the runways. Air Station Corpus Christi
covers an area that spreads between Port Lavaca and Brownsville, and goes
as far South as the Mexican Border"; photo dated circa 2005. No photo number; photographer unknown.
Original photo caption: "Coast Guard Group/Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas."; photo is dated 7 February 2000; photo number 001207-0021D-514 (FR); photo by PA2 James Dillard, USCG.
Historical Sources:
Air Station Files, U. S. Coast Guard Historian's Office
Arthur Pearcy. A History of U. S. Coast Guard Aviation. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989.
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