Civil Air Patrol Overview

The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) was founded in December 1941, one week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, by over 150,000 citizens concerned about the defense of America’s coastline. Operating under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Air Forces, CAP pilots flew over one-half million hours, were credited with sinking two enemy submarines, and rescued hundreds of crash survivors during World War II. On July 1, 1946, President Truman established CAP as a federally chartered benevolent civilian corporation, and on May 26, 1948 Congress passed Public Law 557, which made CAP the auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force. CAP was charged with three primary missions: Aerospace Education, Cadet Programs and Emergency Services.

Today, the Civil Air Patrol operates under the Directorate of Homeland Security (AF/XOH) as the official auxiliary of the United States Air Force.

• Nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation

• U.S. Air Force Auxiliary

• Eight geographic regions consisting of 52 wings (each of the 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia)

• Almost 1,700 units nationwide

• More than 64,000 members

• Over 550 corporate-owned aircraft

• More than 4,000 member-owned aircraft

• Largest fleet of single-engine, piston aircraft in the world

• More than 120,000 hours flown by volunteers every year

• Fleet of 1,000 emergency services vehicles maintained for training and mission support

• Some 675 chaplains providing counseling and ministry to CAP cadets and senior members

• More than 260 corporate staff to support membership

• National Headquarters located at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama

• Educates the membership and the community

• Provides support for more than 100 workshops at colleges nationwide each year

• Develops, publishes and distributes aerospace education curricula for classroom grades K through college

• Sponsors premier aerospace education conference each year: the National Congress on Aviation and Space Education (NCASE)

• Provides classroom materials, teacher training, and other educational aids at no cost to America’s teachers

• Serves as aerospace resource center for education through CAP’s Web site at www.capnhq.gov 

• Provides speakers and direct assistance to teachers through the regional directors of Aerospace Education

• Almost 27,000 members, ages 12 to 21

• Encompasses multi-step program that includes aviation and aerospace education

• Offers orientation flights in powered and glider aircraft and flight training scholarships

• Provides about 10% of each year’s new classes entering military service academies

• Provides enlistment in Air Force at higher pay grade for cadets who have earned the Gen. Billy Mitchell Award

• Provides activities and competition for cadets at local, State, regional and National levels

• Provides an International Air Cadet Exchange program

• Provides college scholarships in several disciplines

• Conducts 95% of all inland search and rescue in the United States, as tasked by the Air Force Reserve Coordination Center and other agencies

• Performs aerial reconnaissance for homeland security

• Saves an average of 100 lives per year

• Provides disaster-relief support to local, State and National disaster relief organizations

• Transports time-sensitive medical materials, blood products and body tissues

• Provides damage assessment, radiological monitoring, light transport and communications support, and low-altitude route surveys for the U.S. Air Force

• Assists federal agencies in the war on drugs

• Conducts orientation flights for Air Force ROTC students

• Maintains its own communications network, the most extensive in the nation