Headline News

MASSACHUSETTS -- In the nearly empty parking lot at Beverly Municipal Airport on a recent evening, eight people in military uniform lined up in formation. They saluted crisply and barked out commands that faded softly into the quiet evening. The uniformed men and boys are accustomed to operating out of...

ALASKA -- A search was under way this past weekend for an Anderson man reported missing near the Nenana River. Alaska State Troopers were told at about 2:15 p.m. Friday that 43-year-old Edward Neeley was missing, after his vehicle had been located along the river near Anderson. Civil Air Patrol...

OKLAHOMA -- Dozens of area emergency crews combed through Lake Texoma for the first search and rescue exercise to be held at the lake, which rests on the border of Oklahoma and Texas. Emergency crews and volunteers were split into 10 teams, some of them searched from the ground, while...

MINNESOTA -- The St. Cloud Morning and the Central Minnesota Noon Optimist clubs recently named the commander of Civil Air Patrol's St. Cloud Composite Squadron, Maj. Pat Cruze, among its 2011 “Friend of Youth” winners.

ALABAMA -- One hundred and twenty Civil Air Patrol cadet officers flew in from all over to participate in Cadet Officer School last week. The school at Maxwell Air Force Base is patterned after the Air Force’s Squadron Officer College and features an academically challenging curriculum and in-depth leadership training...

ILLINOIS -- In March, Peter Fox, 18, feeling faint and fatigued, stopped by Maine East High School’s health center for a checkup. A test showed trouble: the student’s blood levels were unusually low. Fox, a Civil Air Patrol cadet staff sergeant in Illinois Wing’s Palwaukee Composite Squadron in Chicago, walked...

OHIO -- Col. Gregory L. Mathews is Civil Air Patrol’s new Ohio Wing commander after previously serving as the wing’s inspector general. Read more about Mathews and his change of command ceremony in the online edition of his hometown newspaper, the Kenton Times.

VIRGINIA -- The Air Force Association, based in Arlington, announced Thursday the 20 recipients of AFA’s aerospace education grants, promoting aerospace education for hundreds of students through Civil Air Patrol squadrons. Click here to find out which squadrons were selected to receive the grants, which are awarded twice a year...

WEST VIRGINIA -- A group of about 100 volunteer members of Civil Air Patrol were on a mission in Bridgeport Saturday. The mission was a set of tasks: locate a missing aircraft, find a missing person and evaluate the flood damage of certain areas such as the New River Gorge...

MICHIGAN -- The U.S. Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol, conducting “Operation Wolverine” at Lenawee County Airport in Adrian, had a special guest on Saturday. Congressman Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, stopped by to show his support for the cadets and senior members. He also was briefed on CAP’s mission in support...

OKLAHOMA -- Teenage pilots from Oklahoma as well as Alabama, Arizona, Arkansa, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia converged at the Shawnee Municipal Airport for 10 days of training and the hope of making their first ever solo flights. “I was nervous at first,” said...

SOUTH DAKOTA -- Civil Air Patrol's South Dakota Wing did not have much information other than a plane had left Aberdeen on Friday night and was to land in Custer. It never arrived. Fortunately, Saturday’s mission was only a hypothetical search and rescue as part of the U.S. Air Force’s...

ALABAMA -- An unusual flight crew touched down in Huntsville Sunday, as teachers from across the nation finished touring the skies with Civil Air Patrol. The teachers participate in an educator’s version of the Space and Rocket Center’s Space Camp for educators. It included the chance to see Huntsville from...

NEBRASKA -- The valuable military artifacts at Omaha’s Freedom Park are safe and sound despite the Missouri River flooding, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. The park, home to the World War II minesweeper, the USS Hazard and the Cold War-era submarine, the USS Marlin, has been underwater since...

PENNSYLVANIA -- Like many couples, Kate Harrigan and William Alford go to different churches Sunday mornings. Unlike many couples, both wear clerical collars and officiate at Episcopal services when they do. The head of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania calls them “very dedicated pastors who model Christian marriage well.”...

SOUTH DAKOTA -- Annual Civil Air Patrol cadet encampment training is taking place at Camp Rapid this week. The nine-day event offers emergency service training for cadets aged 12 to 18 from all over the Midwest and Plains region. This year, 102 cadets are taking part in the training. On...

ALASKA -- When officer Simon Ford isn’t patrolling the streets for the Haines Borough Police Department, he’s the commander for the new Civil Air Patrol Chilkat Valley flight that draws more than half its membership from his own family. Ford, a former grocery store butcher with eight children, said his...

KENTUCKY -- The Kentucky Civil Air Patrol was training near Rising Sun, Ind., on Saturday when a helicopter piloted by a central Kentucky man went down, turning the exercise into a real search mission. A CAP aircrew from Frankfort located the wreckage through the copter’s emergency transmitter and directed local...

GEORGIA -- The 24 Civil Air Patrol cadets participating in the National Flight Academy glider training at Richard B. Russell Regional Airport in Rome, Ga., this week aren’t simply going up there and floating around, said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. George Harrison, one of the instructors and former director...

MONTANA -- The search for a missing skier continued at Big Sky Saturday. Search and rescue crews from Big Sky, Gallatin County and Madison County, as well as the Montana Civil Air Patrol, combed the round and steep terrain south and west of Lone Mountain Saturday morning in an effort...

NEVADA -- Dale Brown must love Nevada. The New York Times best-selling author of military suspense novels moved to Incline Village about 15 years ago. Books written by the former U.S. Air Force captain, now a member of Civil Air Patrol, usually have a strong international component. “The Tin Man”...

ALABAMA -- Most 16-year-olds are car crazy. They spend their time practicing to earn a driver’s license, saving money to buy their first car or working a summer job to put gas in their tanks. For Wilsonville’s Jacob McGowin, the age of 16 meant he could finally fly solo on...

HAWAII -- Civil Air Patrol’s Hawaii Wing is featured in the latest issue of Torch, the official safety magazine of the U.S. Air Force AETC. A cover story in the May-June issue, written by Tech Sgt. Samuel Bendet, explores the wing’s long history of providing tsunami warnings along Hawaii’s shores.

NEVADA -- The Civil Air Patrol National Cadet Glider Academy starts today at the Minden-Tahoe Airport, hosted by the Douglas County Composite Squadron. Twenty cadets are attending, ranging in age from 14 to 19 from states as far away as Florida. They will attend ground school classes and fly twice a day...

TEXAS -- Airmen at Laughlin Air Force Base recently hosted members of the Civil Air Patrol cadet program as they learned about undergraduate pilot training. “We have students here at Laughlin from Florida to Alaska,” said Major Steve Esh, a 99th comptroller squadron academics teacher. “They are from all over...