The Civil Air Patrol, the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force, had its origins in the late 1930s when aviation activist Gill Robb Wilson started a personal campaign to strengthen and augment the United States’ air forces, which he perceived as unprepared and ill-equipped to respond to the looming war in Europe. Wilson, the aviation editor of the New York Herald Tribune and soon-to-be New Jersey Aeronautics Commissioner, convinced both New Jersey’s governor and National Civil Defense Chief Fiorello La Guardia (better known as the mayor of New York City) of the value of his civilian air defense corps, and the new Civil Air Patrol was officially established on December 1, 1941--less than a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into World War II.

 

Using civilian pilots recruited for their flying skills, the original plan for the Civil Air Patrol limited its role to liaison flying (unarmed support flights, including reconnaissance) along the U.S. East Coast and interdiction patrols on the southern border to guard against enemy infiltrators crossing over from Mexico. However, Nazi submarines (U-boats) patrolling the North Atlantic began sinking commercial vessels with impunity, taking a terrible toll on tankers and freighters in particular, disrupting deliveries of gasoline and oil to the United States, and threatening the transport of vital war supplies being rushed to Europe. The Civil Air Patrol found itself chartered to perform a crucial new mission--coastal patrols and submarine spotting.

 

Sponsored by oil companies such as Sunoco (Sun Oil) and civic organizations, 40,000 people from all walks of life volunteered to serve in civilian coastal patrols and the Civil Air Patrol. Private pilots supplied their own aircraft and equipment, but their operating expenses often exceeded the $8 per day flight reimbursement provided by the government, which often took two months just to process the paperwork. Civic groups held fundraisers and established "Sink-a-Sub Clubs" to provide financial assistance to the coastal patrol and Civil Air Patrol pilots.

 

The military establishment, which remained unconvinced of the value of civilian patrols, ordered a 90-day trial period in early 1942 to evaluate their effectiveness on anti-submarine patrols, using Atlantic City, New Jersey; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; and Lantana, Florida, as staging fields. It took all of 15 minutes for the first Civil Air Patrol flight out of Atlantic City to spot a torpedoed oil tanker and assist in the coordination of rescue operations.

 

Unarmed Civil Air Patrol crews soon made the most of their encounters with surprised enemy submarines, feigning dive-bombing attacks that often caused the subs to submerge and head for deeper water. Later in the war, Civil Air Patrol aircraft, flying as far as 150 miles (241 kilometers) from shore, were equipped with bombs and depth charges after an enemy submarine, grounded in the shallow waters off Cape Canaveral, Florida, escaped before military aircraft arrived on the scene. The Civil Air Patrol missions also had an intangible but immediate positive impact on the morale of tanker and freighter crews

 

By 1943, Civil Air Patrol coastal patrols had flown 244,600 hours totaling 24 million miles (38.6 million kilometers), summoning help for 91 ships in distress and aiding in the rescue of 363 survivors of submarine attacks. CAP patrols spotted 173 enemy submarines, attacking 57 with bombs or depth charges, damaging 10 and sinking 2. In recognition of its effectiveness, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an Executive Order on April 29, 1943, establishing the Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the U.S. Army Air Forces. At the time of its transfer to the AAF, the Civil Air Patrol ranks had swelled to more than 75,000 volunteers.

 

Largely in reaction to the Civil Air Patrol’s activities, enemy submarine close-in operations along the East Coast were withdrawn and, on August 31, 1943, Civil Air Patrol coastal patrols were ordered to stand down (cease operations). In the ultimate compliment, a Nazi submariner later admitted that the U-boats were pulled back "because of those damned little red and yellow airplanes" of the Civil Air Patrol.

 

Its coastal patrol mission no longer needed, Civil Air Patrol members, both men and women, continued to support the war effort--guarding airfields, towing aerial targets, flying military courier and liaison missions, and of course, air search and rescue. By war’s end, Civil Air Patrol volunteer pilots had flown over 500,000 hours, but many also paid the ultimate price--more than 90 CAP aircraft were lost and 64 of its volunteer members died in their country’s service.

 

In 1946, President Harry S Truman, in acknowledgement of the Civil Air Patrol’s dedication and achievements, signed a bill granting the Civil Air Patrol a national charter. The U.S. Air Force was established as a separate armed service in 1947 and the Civil Air Patrol soon followed, designated as the Air Force’s permanent civilian auxiliary in May 1948. On July 1, 1976, the Civil Air Patrol was transferred to U.S. Air Force’s Headquarters Command, and placed under the command of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

 

By the 1960s and 1970s, Civil Air Patrol pilots were flying more than 75 percent of all search and rescue missions in the United States, and that primary mission continues to this day. CAP members are always ready to serve in any capacity, performing such vital roles as delivering critical supplies, establishing command posts, and providing radio communications during natural disasters and emergencies.

 

The promotion of air power to the public, as well as providing aerospace education and training for its adult and youth members, remains of paramount importance to the Civil Air Patrol as it begins a new century of providing volunteer services to benefit the public good. Those "little red and yellow airplanes" and their civilian crews remain one of the military’s best investments.

 

--Roger Guillemette

 

Sources and further reading:

Keefer, Louis E., From Maine to Mexico: With America's Private Pilots in the Fight against Nazi U-Boats. Reston, Va.: COTU Publishing, 1997

Neprud, Robert E., Flying Minute Men: The Story of the Civil Air Patrol. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1948

 

Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Air Force Museum. http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/prewwii/cap.htm

Civil Air Patrol History, Vandenberg AFB. http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/associate_units/civil_air_patrol/History.html

International Liaison Pilot and Aircraft Association. http://www.centercomp.com/ILPA/index.html

"The Civil Air Patrol Story." http://www.capnhq.gov/nhq/dp/dpm/capstory.html

National Headquarters Civil Air Patrol. http://www.capnhq.gov/

 

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