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Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City facts for kids

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Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City
Ensign of the United States Coast Guard.svg
Part of Coast Guard Base Elizabeth City
Near Elizabeth City, North Carolina in the United States
COAST GUARD AIR STATION ELIZABETH CITY DVIDS1071391.jpg
A US Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk outside a hangar at CGAS Elizabeth City.
CGAS Elizabeth City unit insignia.svg
Elizabeth City is located in North Carolina
Elizabeth City
Elizabeth City
Elizabeth City is located in the United States
Elizabeth City
Elizabeth City
Coordinates 36°15′27″N 76°11′00″W / 36.25750°N 76.18333°W / 36.25750; -76.18333 (Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City)
Type Coast Guard Air Station
Site information
Owner Department of Homeland Security
Operator United States Coast Guard
Controlled by Fifth District
Condition Operational
Aircraft operated HC-130J Hercules (5)
MH-60T Jayhawk (4)
Site history
Built 1940 (1940)
In use 1940 – present
Airfield information
Identifiers IATA: ECG, ICAO: KECG, FAA LID: ECG, WMO: 746943
Elevation 3.3 metres (11 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
10/28 2,200.3 metres (7,219 ft) Asphalt/concrete
1/19 1,377 metres (4,518 ft) Asphalt/concrete

Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City is a United States Coast Guard Air Station co-located at Elizabeth City Regional Airport in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, along the Pasquotank River near the opening of the Albemarle Sound. The base has a garrison of approximately 855 officers and enlisted. The Coast Guard air station is also one of the busiest in the U.S. Coast Guard, operating missions as far away as Greenland, the Azores and the Caribbean.

Operations and Missions

Coast Guard Air Station (CGAS) Elizabeth City is located on the campus of the Coast Guard's Base Elizabeth City. and is one of several commands located on the Coast Guard's premier Base Elizabeth City. In addition, the Base Elizabeth City complex houses the Aviation Technical Training Center (ATTC) (a headquarters level command which trains enlisted Coast Guardsmen in aviation ratings in "A" Schools and advanced "C" Schools), the Aviation Logistics Center (ALC) and Station Elizabeth City.

The missions of CGAS Elizabeth City include search and rescue (SAR), Maritime Law enforcement, International Ice Patrol, aids to navigation support (such as operating lighthouses), and marine environmental protection (such as responding to oil spills).

Currently, CGAS Elizabeth City maintains and operates five HC-130J Hercules aircraft and four MH-60T Jayhawk helicopters.

History

CGAS Elisabeth City floatplanes 1942
Floatplanes at CGAS Elizabeth City in March 1942.
ECity patch
Elizabeth City Aviation Technical Training Center
Lockheed HC-130B 1345 USCG Eliz LEB 050671 edited-3
Lockheed HC-130B Hercules of CGAS Elizabeth City in 1971

CGAS Elizabeth City was commissioned on August 15, 1940, with four officers, 52 enlisted men and ten aircraft including three Hall PH-2 seaplanes, four Fairchild J2K landplanes, and three Grumman J2F Duck amphibious aircraft. Located sixty miles north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, north of Albemarle Sound and along the East Coast's northern most ice-free river, the old Holowell Plantation near Elizabeth City, North Carolina, was selected by the United States Coast Guard in 1938 for its potential strategic value as a seaplane base.

During World War II, the air station was under United States Navy control conducting Search and Rescue (SAR), Anti-submarine warfare, and training missions. Since then the air station's missions and assigned aircraft have shifted and grown with changing national priorities and technologies. In 1966 Air Station Elizabeth City expanded after absorbing the coast guard air stations at Kindley AFB, Bermuda and NAS Argentia, Newfoundland.

Recently Support Center Elizabeth City, home of Air Station Elizabeth City was the setting (and used as a double for Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska) in the Kevin Costner film, The Guardian. Support Center personnel were instrumental in providing the infrastructure and support necessary to the filming of the motion picture.

Geographic location

Support Center Elizabeth City is located at 36°15′38″N 76°10′29″W / 36.26056°N 76.17472°W / 36.26056; -76.17472.


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