United States Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater

 military airbase, military, United States Coast Guard

15100 Rescue Way
Clearwater, FL 33762
(727) 535-1437

CGAS Clearwater largest and busiest Air Station in the Coast Guard, and operates as part of the US Coast Guard's 7th District, Sector Tampa/St. Petersburg. The base's Area of Operations includes the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean basin, and the Bahamas.

Established in 1934 at Albert Whited Airport in downtown St. Petersburg, the station became the home base for various Coast Guard amphibious aircraft and helicopters throughout the next 42 years. The addition of four HC-130 airplanes and their requirement for longer runway and larger hangar space prompted the move to St. Petersburg/ Clearwater International Airport in 1976, upon which the station's name changed to U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater.

Clearwater became the Coast Guard's largest air station in 1987 with the expansion of the drug interdiction mission, "Operations Bahamas, Turks, and Caicos" or OPBAT. This large ongoing mission resulted in the assignment of 12 HH-60J helicopters, the newest in the Coast Guard fleet, and boosted personnel strength to its current level of over 500 men and women.

www.uscg.mil/d7/airstaClearwater/default.asp