20 June 1963. A brand new Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard (S-62C) doing what it was good at– landing in calm(ish) water to make hull-borne rescues, in this case during an exercise. The bird, CG1363 (MSN-62-040), is from the Coast Guard Air Station, Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, 3rd CG District.
USCG Photo 26-G-06-17-63(04), National Archives Identifier 205591343
Sadly, 1363 was destroyed at Trinidad Head near Eureka, California on 22 December 1964, just 18 months after the above photo was snapped. The helicopter crashed into a mountain in IFR conditions during a flood rescue operation in a heavy storm, killing all seven aboard including three crewmen and four individuals that had just been rescued.
The wrecked airframe is still where is impacted, at 1,130 feet elevation nine miles north of the Arcata Airport near a landmark known today as Strawberry Rock where it is visited annually by the Coasties stationed at Sector Humboldt Bay, whose base maintains a memorial to those lost 60 years ago today.
USCG Photo
USCG Photo