The air station's missions included search and rescue, law enforcement, counting migratory waterfowl for the U.S. Biological Survey, and assisting icebound islands by delivering provisions. During World War IIanti-submarine patrols were also conducted from the air station.[1]
History
With little room to expand at Coast Guard Aviation Station Ten Pound Island in Gloucester, a new air station was established at Salem in 1935. CGAS Salem was built with a barracks, hangar, a radio shack,[2] an apron, and a seaplane ramp; it never had facilities for fixed-wing landplanes. The station was built on Winter Island, on land adjacent to the War of 1812 vintage Fort Pickering, and on or near the site of the construction of the sail frigate USS Essex by one of Enos Briggs' shipyards in 1799.[3][4] The station performed 26 medevac missions in its first year of operation.[1] During World War II anti-submarine patrols were conducted from the air station. In October 1944 the station was the first on the eastern seaboard to be designated as part of the Air-Sea Rescue Service.[1]
In 1950, Air Detachment Quonset Point, Rhode Island was established as a sub unit of Air Station Salem. During the 1950s, helicopters were introduced with a great deal of success as a rescue platform.
With the development circa 1960 of the Sikorsky HH-52A, an amphibious helicopter, the need for flying boats was lessened. The US Navy retired its last seaplane, the P5M Marlin, in 1967.[5] Therefore, air stations having only water landing capabilities, such as Salem, were phased out. It was replaced by Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod in 1970, and CGAS Salem closed that year.[6] The station's surviving facilities are part of Salem's Winter Island Marine Park, and the radio shack was converted to the office of the Salem Harbormaster Department.[7]
^*Roberts, Michael D. Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons: Volume 2 The History of VP, VPB, VP(HL) and VP(AM) Squadrons, p. 663. Washington DC: Naval Historical Centre, 2000.
