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.