When armament was added to the Dolphin fleet, existing aircraft, which had also received other upgrades, were redesignated MH-65B and MH-65C. Further upgrades have led to the MH-65D and MH-65E in development today.

The 1980s were also the period when a familiar, large turboprop plane became the service’s ice patroller. Since 1983, international ice patrol flights have used the HC-130H and later HC-130J versions of the Hercules with a typical mission lasting eight hours or more.

 

Rescue swimmers

In 1983, the merchant ship M/V Marine Electric went down in rough seas at night off the coast of Virginia. In rescue efforts that began the following morning with an HH-3F Pelican, the Coast Guard had to call upon the Navy for assistance.

Thanks to Navy rescue swimmer Petty Officer James McCann, three lives were saved, although, because of delays, 31 were lost. Congress immediately asked why the Navy, which had no helicopters on alert, had rescue swimmers while the Coast Guard, which kept helicopters constantly ready, had no swimmers. For decades, the Coast Guard had plucked survivors from the sea without being equipped to go into the water to help them.

Legislation for fiscal year 1984 specified that the Coast Guard must “establish a helicopter rescue swimmer program for the purpose of training selected Coast Guard personnel in rescue swimming skills.”

By the end of 1986, the service had rescue swimmers at six air stations. The swimmers operated aboard HH-3F, HH-65, HH-60J, and HH-52A helos.

When the program became operational, there was initial reluctance to deploy rescue swimmers except under favorable conditions. It soon became apparent, however, that the service’s rescue swimmers would frequently be called upon in extreme weather conditions. The Coast Guard’s website relates this tale:

On 10 December 1987, Air Station Sitka, Alaska, received a distress call from a 26 foot fishing vessel taking on water about 10 miles southwest of Sitka. An HH-3F was quickly launched to search for the vessel, but the weather conditions were terrible. Visibility was down to 1/4 [mile] in a severe snow storm, the seas were running at about 25 to 30 feet and the wind was blowing at 35 knots with gusts up to 70 knots. Aboard the vessel were a 33-year-old man and his 6-year-old son, both of whom were wearing survival suits. In the heavy seas, the tall rigging of the sinking boat swayed violently from side to side, with the stern already awash. Despite numerous attempts, the pilot and hoist operator were unable to get the rescue basket to the two people on the boat. The pilot, after considerable persuasion, convinced the father and boy that their only chance at rescue was to enter the water where they could then get into the rescue basket. With the son strapped to his chest, the father jumped over the side into the turbulent water. However, the man’s survival suit leaked, and immediately filled with water. After several attempts to get into the basket, it became apparent that they could not. The pilot turned to ASM1 Jeffery Tunks, the rescue swimmer, and directed him to prepare for deployment. In a few short moments, Petty Officer Tunks was in the turbulent water and swimming to assist the two individuals. Fighting heavy seas and winds, Petty Officer Tunks struggled to get the two survivors into the rescue basket. Once secured, they were hoisted to the hovering H-3. With the aircraft being buffeted by extremely gusty winds during the subsequent effort to recover the rescue swimmer, Petty Officer Tunks was dragged through an enormous sea swell, causing him to lose his mask and snorkel and sustain a minor back injury. He was ultimately recovered, and with the two survivors safely aboard, the H-3 returned to Sitka. For his courage and presence of mind in deploying into conditions as yet not previously encountered during previous rescue swimmer operations, ASM1 Jeffery Tunks became the first rescue swimmer to earn the Distinguished Flying Cross.

War on drugs

Coast Guard aviation’s rule in drug interdiction dates to the 1970s. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 formalized the service’s role in interdicting drug smugglers who were using aircraft. For a brief period, the Coast Guard operated eight Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes and a single Lockheed EC-130V Hercules mounting saucer-shaped radar antennas. The service identified 798 smuggler aircraft in the first two years of these operations. In common with a decision to arm helicopters that came a decade later, the service’s crewmembers never intended to use lethal force. The E-2As and EC-130Vs steered the bad guys into the arms of law enforcement. The guns that were mounted later on helicopters were meant to disable the engines of smugglers’ “go-fast boats” – not to shoot people. The “war on drugs” was, and is, controversial and at least some Coast Guard members say they derive more satisfaction from rescue duty.

Sept. 12, 1989, marked the final flight of a Coast Guard Seaguard, a helicopter that served for a quarter of a century. Retired Coast Guard Lt. Ralph Benhart was an enlisted maintainer working on HH-52A electronic systems at Corpus Christi, Texas. “It was an easy aircraft to maintain but because it was single-engine, if you had a problem you knew where you were going,” Benhart remembered in an interview. “As you’d expect with an amphibian, the sheet metal guys had problems with rust on the bottom. But it was a fine helicopter, and it could carry a heck of a lot of weight.”