Aircraft you would like to see in USCG colours

[Mossie]

Fairey Gannet
Westland Lynx
Martin P6M Seamaster
Curtiss SC Seahawk
Aerospatiale Alouette III
Bell UH-1
Fairchild R4Q Flying Boxcar

Ill echo the Connie and Rotodyne.

[Rheged]

A V bomber, or even a Sperrin with a full electronics fit could be useful to do rapid checks of electronic navigation aids.

A Shackleton Mk4 with 4 Napier Nomads could  serve as an ASR coordination aircraft, as it would have a ridiculously long loiter time over the casualty.

[chiglet]

Did a USGC Rotodyne donks ago. Someone paid for the Micro Scale sheet, so I could do a C130 H to hang from his ceiling  so I used it up

[nighthunter]

[McColm]

Cool,
I read somewhere that US Black Ops fly Russian helicopters.That could be a new topic to cover.

[zenrat]

This just in.  US tobacco giant Marlboro announces new sponsorship deal...

[Weaver]

Tu-95 Bear 

Maybe the post-Cold War uphevals in Russia produce a government that's totally pro-western, and the USCG gets the Bears as part of a swords-into-ploughshares disarmament scheme.

[Weaver]

CL-130 Hercules floatplane.

The kit's been developed by LM but found no takers so far. You might imagine applying a similar mod to other transport types: Transall? C-27? A400M?


Image by "agnott" on deviantART (apparently it's a screen cap from a game): http://agnott.deviantart.com/gallery/

[The Rat]

1950s - Both world powers get heavily involved in the Caribbean, both screw it up, and the whole area descends into piracy. The USCG uses A-10 Warthogs to attack pirate ships that operate at high speed. Possibly carrier based?

Shorts Stranraer

The Stranraer was Supermarine actually. 

[Weaver]

1950s - Both world powers get heavily involved in the Caribbean, both screw it up, and the whole area descends into piracy. The USCG uses A-10 Warthogs to attack pirate ships that operate at high speed. Possibly carrier based?

The A-10s being the 1980s replacement for their Grumman Mohawks, which in turn were the replacement for their ex-USMC Grumman F-7 Tigercats handed down to them in the early 1960s, presumably....  

Actually, I've just been doing some reading about Tigercats and they're an incredibly good fit for the scenario. They were progressively withdrawn from service from 1949 and stored in the desert. Most of them ended up scrapped, but a few found their way into private hands as late as 1963, which implies to me that a significant number survived for a fair time.

Now in your scenario of a chaotic Caribbean, lets say a couple of USCG patrol/SAR aircraft end up getting shot down by pirates and the Guard decides it needs an escort force for them. Jets are too fast and expensive, most single seat prop fighters are too short-legged and the Skyraiders are all spoken for SE Asia (kick 'Nam off a bit sooner or make it continuous with the French phase, which may handily explain why the US takes it's eye off the ball in the Caribbean).  However, sat in the desert, unwanted and unloved, are over a hundred twin-engined long-range fighters, some of which have radar: the Tigercats.

USCG buys puts a couple of dozen into service (half of them night-fighters) and buys a load more for spares. They prove ideal to escort patrol aircraft and are soon being used for more "muscular" anti-pirate operations. The night fighters specialise in tracking down, and shooting down if neccessary, drug-running aircraft, having more than enough performance to overhaul the light aircraft typically used.

By the late 1970s, maintenance and airframe life issues are beginning to bite. The options at this point are to either a) turobprop the Tigercats or b) replace them with newer second-hand aircraft such as Mohawks or Broncos. Newer airframes would be more attractive from a running-cost point of view, but none of the available options would have the Tigercat's speed, and giving any of the them AI radar would need a modification program. Whatever aircraft is chosen then gets replaced in the 1990s by A-10s that become surplus post-Cold War.

[PR19_Kit]

Image by "agnott" on deviantART (apparently it's a screen cap from a game): http://agnott.deviantart.com/gallery/

That's a screenie from Flight Sim 2004, I recognise the scenery and I've got the C-130H floatplane model too. Sadly it flies like a brick!

[Leading Observer]

How about an OV-10 Bronco?

[McColm]

Great ideas

[The Rat]

Convair Tradewind/Bowrider. And I have some Revell Bowriders in the stash... 

[McColm]

Got two in my stash, using one as a guide to building the Blohm & Voss BV 222 V-2 amphibious cargo plane.