USCG Martin

Air Classics, Feb 2001 by Arnold, Rhodes

What a beautiful sight - that 4-0-4 in US Coast Guard markings! It gladdens by heart that someone appreciated that aircraft (October 2000).

The story of the last days of the real USCG 4-0-4s bears retelling. When the two planes arrived at Davis-Monthan, I was the chairman of the acquisition committee of the Pima Air Museum and a member of the 9428th Air Reserve Squadron which met on weekends at the base.

To my way of thinking, one of those aircraft had to be preserved and where better than in the Pima Air Museum collection? Accordingly, I dropped in on my contact at MASDC and asked that one be loaned to Pima. My contact said, "Rhodes, I'd like to give you one but we have orders to get rid of them by donation to a school." He told me the story he had gotten from NAVAIRSYSCOM in Washington.

Seems that Nixon's new secretary of the treasury was bent out of shape because the military brass had jets to tool around in and he only had two old prop jobs. Naturally, flying in one of those ancient ships was beneath his dignity.

Some brain at the Treasury Department had to find a way to get those two aircraft off the books so Congress would appropriate bucks for a new jet. The novel solution was to get the Navy to take over the birds, assign them Bureau Numbers to camouflage and confuse the rest of us. The Navy had no use for them, so they were inspected, found over-age-in-grade, and very quickly flown to Davis-Monthan so that a place in Timbuktu could be found to get them out of sight and, thus, out of mind. Pima didn't have a ghost of a chance. One doesn't make waves with a new administration! And definitely not with the head PLUMBER.

Rhodes Arnold Box 55429 Metairie, LA 70055