The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a non-profit organization that serves as the civilian auxiliary of the USAF. Its membership includes everyone from younger cadets to their more senior members, totaling more than 56,000 volunteers across the US. The CAP started just 6 days before Pearl Harbor, and they served a unique, and relatively active role, patrolling the Atlantic coast during WWII. Today their mission includes youth mentorship, and aerial assistance with missions like search and rescue, fire monitoring and more.
In this episode we will dive into the unique history, and the work they are doing today. This one’s going to be cool!
Key Takeaways:
- The Civil Air Patrol was started by congress on Dec 1, 1941, just 6 days before Pearl Harbor
- CAP has about 2,000 members in Colorado, and about 60,000 members nationally
- Its early missions during WWII focused on surveillance, and defense off the Atlantic coast of the US where German U-boats were threatening merchant ships
- As an auxiliary organization to the US Air Force, CAP is tasked with Air Force-assigned missions from the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center
- Primary roles today include search and rescue, aerospace education, and its cadet youth mentorship program
- The CAP supports a variety of medical missions including COVID-19 response, collecting blood donations, and delivering critical medical supplies
- Cadets, aged 12-21, learn both leadership and aerospace skills
- CAP completes more than 100 search and rescue saves each year in collaboration with agencies including the US Forest Service
- CAP has identified cyber security as a topic important to the future
Support Behind the Wings by making a financial contribution to Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum’s Annual Fund! (wingsmuseum.org)
Resources:
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.