Civil Air Patrol
Author: Julee Mitchelsin

If you are like me you never have heard of such a thing as the
Civil Air Patrol. Instead of doing what I did and researching
it a bit you will be able to learn what you need to know and
live the rest of your life more informed about the rich history
of our great country. So sit back and let me give you a cursory
history of this unique and very useful service provided by
volunteer aviators who love to fly and love being citizen's of
the USA.

So the Civil Air Patrol started in the 1930's as WWII was
warming up and the US was just starting to become involved.
Some wise men and pilots noticed a disturbing trend in Europe
that was in response to the war. The general aviation in that
country was being restricted for fear that it would get in the
way of military flights. They decided to bring it up sooner
than later in hopes of not being grounded for the entire war.
The general proposition was that they would volunteer their
services to the military in exchange for retaining the right to
fly like they loved to do.

Our government and military agreed and thus started one of the
most successful civilian military joint efforts in history.
These men flew many thousands of missions and were a big help
to the military. They were mostly doing reconnaissance
missions, patrolling the coast spotting U boats and mines, and
at first were strictly unarmed. Then due to an incident in
which a Civil Air Patrol plane had the opportunity to destroy a
U boat but was unable to they received the right to be armed
with bombs and depth charges and actually proceeded to hunt U
boats. Other missions included serving as targets for anti
aircraft gunners as well as radar technicians and spot light
operators.

The Civil Air Patrol is still active though the agreement at
this time is to strictly benevolent services and non-combat
missions. In fact they flew blood to the world trade center
victims in September 2001 and provided some of the first
footage that we had of the burning towers. They also run a
cadet program for junior flyers that is run much like the
junior ROTC program. Other roles include search and rescue
operations, disaster relief operations, and humanitarian
services. They do still perform some missions specifically for
the military but on a much more limited basis.


About The Author: Julee Mitchelsin loves to fly and is proud to
have served in the Civil Air Patrol when she was younger. If you
would like to learn more please visit
http://www.civilairpatroltimes.info