During Prohibition, the Coast Guard received an influx of congressional cash and orders to stop the flow into the United States of contraband whisky. The ban on booze lasted from 1920 to 1933. It was a difficult if not thankless task, having much in common with drug interdiction efforts in later years.

Lt. Cmdr. Carl C. von Paulsen borrowed a Vought UO-1 seaplane from the Navy to demonstrate the potential of aviation. The first use of an aircraft to chase a rumrunner was on June 20, 1925. The UO-1 assisted in the first capture of a rumrunner with aviation support on June 24, 1925. Operating from Squantum, Massachusetts, von Paulsen’s daily flights substantially curtailed smuggling in his area. The service acquired two of its own versions of the Vought seaplane, designated UO-4.

Writing in U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings (in January 1933), Marine Corps Col. Harold C. Reisinger revealed the dirty little secret: Coast Guardsmen disliked chasing rumrunners. As with the drug wars to come in later decades, they never figured out whether seizing a lot of contraband was a sign of success or of failure. Many had been attracted to the Coast Guard to save those in peril on the sea.

“It seems to be the popular view that the principal activity of the Coast Guard at present is in the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment – the prevention of the introduction into the United States of demon rum,” wrote Reisinger. “It is true that when the Coast Guard got into the air, it began to make life miserable for the seagoing rumrunner and to a great extent changed his hitherto established plans of operation. The ability of the plane, in a brief time, to bring under observation a thousand square miles of sea and coast, has made rum running a difficult occupation. Once the ‘suspect’ speed boat is spotted, there is but small chance of its eluding the plane, which, by radio, is calling the surface patrol to close in and effect the capture.

“So much publicity is given to this onerous and unpopular duty,” Reisinger continued, “that the great service of the Coast Guard to commerce and humanity is but dimly discerned.”

Toward the end of the Prohibition era, Coast Guard aviation changed its emphasis from law enforcement to search and rescue (SAR). The fledgling air arm was making a return to its roots.

 

Flying life boat

In 1928, specifications were drawn to develop a flying life boat to serve alongside 13 Douglas RD-2 Dolphins. Initially a product of Fokker before that company went defunct, the General Aviation Flying Life Boat – different models were designated PJ-1 and PJ-2 – was a flying boat designed from the start to meet Coast Guard rescue requirements and not a hand-me-down from another service branch. Five were built and they were very substantial aircraft for their era, weighing 11,000 pounds and offering a range of 1,000 miles. The first PJ-1 was named Arcturus and was quickly called to service, flying from Miami in darkness and stormy weather to rescue a critically ill passenger aboard the Army transport ship Republic.

During the 1930s, aircraft were deployed aboard cutters for the first time. Each 327-foot cutter embarked a Grumman JF-2 or Curtiss SOC-4 biplane amphibian to assist with opium smuggling patrols off the West Coast, fishery patrols in Alaskan waters, and a standby for SAR missions.

During another PJ-1 incident, von Paulsen set down in heavy seas during January 1933 off Cape Canaveral, Florida, to rescue a boy adrift in a skiff. The Flying Life Boat sustained so much damage during the open water landing that it was unable to take off. Eventually, Arcturus taxied to shore and everyone aboard, including the boy, was saved.