Air Station Borinquen, Puerto Rico
Original Location:
San Juan
Current Location:
Rafael Hernandez Airport, Puerto Rico
Date of Commission:
1971
Fate:
Still in operation
Historical Remarks: 
Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen is located at Rafael Hernandez Airport on the Northwest tip of Puerto Rico. The closest city is Aguadilla, just 10 minutes to the South. The Air Station moved to this location from San Juan in the fall of 1971, at which time the Coast Guard took possession of an outstanding hangar with adjacent support facilities.
The responsibility for the station complex, formerly part of Ramey Air Force Base and later Naval Station Roosevelt Roads West Annex, was assumed by the Coast Guard on 1 July 1976. Included in the boundaries of the base are the housing area, clinic and dispensary, station library, community center, swimming pool, exchange, mini-mart, package store, gymnasium and other fitness facilities, chapel, and theater.
The primary mission of Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen is search and rescue. Secondary missions include: law enforcement, aerial support for ATON, and logistic support. To accomplish these missions, the Air Station has four HH-65B helicopters. The Air Station is under the operational control of Commander, Coast Guard Sector San Juan (old GANTSEC), located in Old San Juan. The Sector San Juan area of responsibility extends from the western end of Haiti to the mid-Atlantic and from approximately 300 miles southwest of Bermuda to the north coast of South America.
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. Click on the thumbnail to access a 300 dpi image.
Original photo caption: "U. S. Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen."; photo dated 1979; Photo No. GANTSEC #-032679-100; photographer unknown.
No caption/date; Photo No. VPH-11 (18); photographer unknown.
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.