 The United States Coast Guard acquired its first seaplanes in 1925 at Air Station Gloucester, and used them for coastal patrol as well as single, uncoordinated air rescue units.The air complement grew in the 1930s with the establishment of Air Station Salem and in the 1940s with the first formation of a dedicated U.S. domestic air-sea rescue service on the East Coast in 1944 at Salem.The first multiple air-sea rescue operation occurred on December 18, 1939.