Civil Air Patrol Coastal Base
Dare County, Dare County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Civil Air Patrol. Coastal Patrol Base, first in N.C., opened ½ mi. S.E., in 1942. Civilian pilots supported military and patrolled for German U-boats.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
In 1942, with German U-boats prowling the Atlantic shipping lanes just offshore, the Civil Air Patrol opened North Carolina's first Coastal Patrol Base half a mile to the southeast. Flying their own small planes, civilian pilots scanned the water for submarines and stood ready to support the military's defense of the coast. Their volunteer patrols filled a dangerous gap in the nation's early wartime air cover.
Why it matters
The coastal patrol pilots show how ordinary civilians took to the skies in World War II, guarding American shores during the U-boats' deadliest months along the Eastern Seaboard.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Pea Island Cookhouse1.8 mi away · 622 Sir Walter Raleigh Street, Manteo, NC
- Herbert M. Collins Boathouse1.8 mi away · 622 Sir Walter Raleigh Street, Manteo, NC
- Outer Banks History Center2.2 mi away · 1 Festival Park, Manteo, NC
Attractions
- North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island0.1 mi away · 374 Airport Road, Manteo, NC
- Lost Colony House1.3 mi away
- The Mother Vine2.1 mi away
- Elizabeth II2.2 mi away
- Jumpmasters Trampoline Park2.7 mi away · 728 US HWY 64, Manteo, NC
- Wright Brothers Monument6.9 mi away
Food & drink
- Pigman’s Bar-B-Que6.2 mi away
- Mama Kwans6.2 mi away
- McDonald's6.2 mi away · 1619 South Croatan Highway, Kill Devil Hills, NC
- Cook Out6.3 mi away · 1513 South Croatan Highway, Kill Devil Hills, NC
- American Pie6.4 mi away · 1600 South Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC
- Miller's Seafood & Steakhouse6.4 mi away · 1520 South Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC
Places to stay
- Holiday Inn Express Nags Head Oceanfront5.2 mi away · 4701 South Virginia Dare Trail, Nags Head, NC
- Colonial Inn5.5 mi away
- TownePlace Suites6.1 mi away · 2028 South Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC
- John Yancey Oceanfront Inn6.3 mi away · 2009 South Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC
- Ocean House Motel6.3 mi away
- Ramada Plaza Nags Head Oceanfront6.4 mi away · 1701 South Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related events
- · World War II
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base
Goldsboro, NC
This Goldsboro airfield was first used from 1942 to 1946 for flight training by the Army Air Forces during World War II, then reopened in 1956 as a permanent Air Force base during the Cold War. It was named for Seymour Johnson, a Goldsboro native and naval aviator. The base remains an active military installation today.
R. A. Fessenden
Dare County, NC
In 1901 and 1902, inventor Reginald A. Fessenden ran pioneering wireless experiments from a station on this stretch of the Outer Banks, some 600 yards to the southwest. A relentless tinkerer, Fessenden pushed radio beyond simple Morse dots toward the transmission of voice and sound itself. The windswept Carolina coast became one of the proving grounds for a technology that would soon reshape the world.
Wright Brothers National Memorial
Kill Devil Hills, NC · est. 1932
On the windy dunes of Kill Devil Hills, the Wright Flyer lifted off for 12 seconds and 120 feet — the first of four flights that day. The brothers had solved the problem of controlled flight.
Wright Brother's Shed
Kitty Hawk, NC
On the windswept dunes of Kitty Hawk, Orville and Wilbur Wright lived and labored over the flying machine that would make history. It was near here, in December 1903, that they achieved the first sustained, controlled, powered flight, and an obelisk-style monument now marks the ground where the age of aviation began.