The Civil Air Patrol During World War II

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The Civil Air Patrol During World War II On December 1, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order that started the Civil Air Patrol. No one, not even its creator, Gill Robb Wilson, foresaw the importance that Cap would play in protecting the waters along the coast from the dreaded German U-boats attacking the shipping lanes. Sixty years later the CAP is still going strong. Performing its missions of aerospace education, cadet programs and search and rescue, CAP is preparing today’s youth to become successful leaders. This was not all that CAP has done. In the beginning of its creation, CAP played a major role in the defense of the U.S. during World War II. CAP played a vital role in the coastal defense of the Southern and Eastern coasts of the U.S. that could not have been done effectively by any other agency at that time. CAP can trace its history back to the late 1930s and a man named Gill Robb Wilson. Wilson was an editor for The New York Herald Tribune and a pilot. Wilson believed that civilian aviators and aircraft could be organized as a homeland air defense group to protect the U.S. against spies, saboteurs. He was able to convince the governor of his home state of New Jersey, Charles Edison and later Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York. Wilson believed that his Civil Air Defense Service could be used to police airports, fingerprint anyone involved in aviation, use private aircraft for liaison work, and patrol along uninhabited areas of the coastline. By April 1941, a proposal of the Civil Air Patrol, based on Wilson’s model, was submitted to President Roosevelt. Then on December 1, 1941 President Roosevelt signed an executive order that allowed the creating of the Civil Air Pa... ... middle of paper ... ...aphy: Baldwin, Hanson Weightman. United We Stand! Defense of the Western Hemisphere. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1941. Conn, Stetson. Guarding the United States and its Outposts. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1964. Cooper, Constance J. and Cone, Ellen. “Defending the Delaware Home Front During World War II.” Delaware History 26.3-4 (1995-96): 243-264. Keefer, Louis E.. From Maine to Mexico: With America’s Private Pilots in the Fight Against Nazi U-Boats. Reston, VA: COTU, 1997. Neprud, Robert E.. Flying Minute Men: The Story of the Civil Air Patrol. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1948. United States. Office of Civilian Defense. Colleges and Universities and Civilian Defense. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1942. Willoughby, Malcolm F.. The U.S. Coast Guard in World War II. Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute, 1957.

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