Description:
Aided by ground team members, CAP pilots and observers log three out of every four U.S. flying hours spent each year on search and rescue efforts directed by the Air force Rescue and Coordination Center within the continental United States. In the first 10 months of 1978, CAP conducted 755 search and rescue missions and saved 52 lives. To do the job, it launched 9,104 sorties and logged 20,332 hours of flying time. Established on Dec. 1, 1941, the CAP was founded through the efforts of aviation-minded private citizens who wanted to contribute their aircraft and time to the nation's civil defense. In World War II, CAP members flew missions off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts on alert for enemy submarines and on patrol duty along the Mexican border. Members carried mail, light cargo and passengers; towed targets for aerial gunnery practice; and flew search missions. In 1946, Congress chartered CAP as a benevolent, non-profit corporation. Two years later, Congress made CAP an official auxiliary of the Air Force and gave the Air Force authority to assist the organization. CAP has been performing search and rescue missions and other humanitarian operations since World War II. In addition to life-saving operations, CAP conducts cadet and aerospace education programs. CAP cadets have entered the Air Force through direct enlistment, Reserve Officer Training Corps programs at colleges and universities and as cadets at the Air Force Academy. Aerospace education is conducted to inform the public on aviation. CAP and the Air Force conduct a joint aerospace education workshop program for educators and community and business leaders on the role of aerospace in the United States.
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