Civil Air Patrol explained by Cadet

Jim Bailey of Newark gave a program on May 27 to the Kiwanis Club, now meeting at Pizano's on West Union St.

Bailey and his father, Scott, are members of the Civil Air Patrol wing in Canandaigua.

Civil Air Patrol was founded in December 1941, one week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The first patrol included 150,000 citizens who were concerned about the defense of America's coast line.

Flying under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces in World War II, CAP pilots flew over one-half million hours, were credited with sinking two enemy submarines and rescued hundreds of crash survivors.

On July 1, 1946, President Harry Truman established CAP as a federally chartered benevolent civilian corporation. In May 26, 1948 CAP was officially made the auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force.

CAP is charged with three primary missions:

Aerospace education, Cadet Programs and emergency services.

The Cadet programs include 27,000 members from ages 12-21. Cadet Bailey is 14 and is home-schooled.

Cadet programs offer orientation flights in powered and glider aircraft and flight training scholarships. They also give college scholarships.

CAP conducts most of the inland search and rescue in the U.S. as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.

CAP transports medical materials, blood products an body tissues. It assists federal agencies in the war on drugs. The Patrol conducts orientation flights for Air Force ROTC students and provides disaster-relief support to local, state and national disaster relief organizations.

For more information, see www.cap.gov

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