Agency Details:

The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) has three missions for volunteers:

• Emergency Services: CAP does about 95% of the search and rescue in the continental United States.
• Cadet Programs: CAP has one of the finest youth programs in the world, designed for ages 12-21. In addition, there is a middle school program for use in schools.
• Aerospace Education. We are responsible both for the education of our own members and of the general public. We also have extensive programs for use in schools, so teachers and other educators are very welcome.

Description:
Cadet Programs


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Civil Air Patrol builds strong citizens for the future by providing leadership training, technical education, scholarships and career education to young men and women, ages 12 to 21.

Civil Air Patrol offers more than $200,000 in college scholarships each year, and about 10 percent of each year's freshman class at the U.S. Air Force Academy is comprised of former CAP cadets.

Thousands of young people have their first orientation flights through the cadet program, and hundreds have soloed in gliders and powered aircraft. Tens of thousands have attended CAP encampments throughout the nation. At a national encampment, CAP cadets gather from throughout the nation. They may learn techniques for search and rescue and disaster relief. They may sample possible career choices by studying with a university engineering or technology department. They may learn teamwork and leadership through competitions in problem-solving and physical endurance.

Cadets can enjoy overseas travel through the International Air Cadet Exchange, and CAP families can welcome foreign exchange students into their homes here in the states.

For non-CAP members, the CAP School Program fills the gap between elementary school DARE and high school ROTC. CAP members, including cadets, volunteer their time in public schools, teaching respect, manners and personal accountability in a drug-free environment.

Emergency Services


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While CAP has long been associated with search and rescue missions, its work also includes disaster relief and communications, as well as counterdrug and homeland security missions.

Search and rescue remains an important service provided by CAP members, however. CAP still flies 95 percent of all federal inland SAR missions, as directed by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) at Langley AFB, Va. CAP also supports the Joint Rescue Coordination Centers in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico

On average, each year CAP members fly more than 100,000 hours in operational missions and save about 100 lives. CAP provides air and ground support for disaster relief, flying officials to remote locations, transporting blood or live tissue to critical care sites and performing aerial damage assessment.

CAP has one of the largest unified communications networks in the country, available 24/7.

In 1986, Congress authorized CAP to assist government and law enforcement agencies in the fight to eliminate illicit drug use, production and sale in the US and its territories. CAP now provides reconnaissance, communications and transportation for counterdrug missions.

CAP's missions succeed through a seamless interplay of technology and teamwork. With new developments like satellite imagery and internet-based reporting, CAP is emerging as the resource of choice to support our nation's strategy for homeland security.

Aerospace Education


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Civil Air Patrol (CAP) promotes and supports aerospace education, both for its own members and the general public. CAP educational programs help prepare American citizens to meet the challenges of a sophisticated aerospace society and understand its related issues.

CAP offers national standards-based educational products, including a secondary textbook, Aerospace: The Journey of Flight, and the middle-school-level Aerospace Dimensions. Teachers can get free classroom materials and lesson plans from CAP by joining CAP's Aerospace Education Membership program.

Educators from across the country learn how to use aviation and space in a variety of subject areas by attending the National Conference on Aviation and Space Education (NCASE). NCASE is the nation's premier conference in this field. CAP has sponsored NCASE since 1967.

CAP also sponsors several prestigious awards for those who promote aerospace to the public.



History:
Civil Air Patrol was conceived in the late 1930s by legendary New Jersey aviation advocate Gill Robb Wilson, who foresaw aviation's role in war and general aviation's potential to supplement America's military operations. With the help of New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, the new Civil Air Patrol was established on December 1, 1941, just days before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

The CAP insignia, a red three-bladed propeller in the Civil Defense white-triangle-in-blue-circle, began appearing on private aircraft everywhere. CAP initially planned only on liaison and reconnaissance flying, but the civilian group's mission expanded when German submarines began to prey on American ships off the coast of the United States and CAP planes began carrying bombs and depth charges.

A CAP crew first interrupted a sub attack on a flight out of Rehoboth Beach, saving a tanker off Cape May, N.J. Since radio calls for military bombers were often unproductive, unarmed CAP fliers dived in mock attacks to force subs to break and run.

The CAP coastal patrol flew 24 million miles, found 173 submarines, attacked 57, hit 10 and sank two. By Presidential Executive Order, CAP became an auxiliary of the Army Air Forces in 1943.

A German commander later confirmed that coastal U-boat operations were withdrawn from the United States "because of those damned little red and yellow airplanes."

In all, CAP flew a half-million hours during the war, and 64 CAP aviators lost their lives in the line of duty.

The U.S. Air Force was created as an independent armed service in 1947, and CAP was designated as its official civilian auxiliary the following year.



Contact person: Toni Ali, (703) 851-3967


Main office number: (703) 851-3967

Address:


P.O. Box 1000491 Arlington, VA 22210


Web Site: http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com

Directions:

Squadron meets at 816 South Walter Reed Drive, Arlington.

Last updated on May 30, 2009