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. Flying under the jurisdiction
of the 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.
Congress passed Public Law 557 on May 26, 1948, which made CAP the auxiliary
of the new United States Air Force. CAP was
charged with three primary missions: Cadet Programs, Aerospace Education,
and Emergency Services.
THE
CORPORATION
• Nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation
• United States Air Force Auxiliary
• Eight geographic regions consisting of 52 wings (each of the 50
states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia)
• Almost 1,800 units nationwide
• Approximately 61,000 members
• 530 Corporate owned aircraft
• More than 4,000 member owned aircraft
• Largest fleet of single-engine, piston aircraft in the world
• Volunteers fly in excess of 120,000 hours each year
• Maintains a fleet of 950 emergency services vehicles for
training and mission support
• Approximately 675 chaplains provide counseling and ministry to
CAP cadets and senior members
• Requires more than 230 corporate staff to support membership
• National Headquarters located at Maxwell AFB, Alabama
CADET
PROGRAMS
• Develops the potential of youth attending the 6th grade
to age 21
• More than 26,000 cadet members
• Encompasses a 15–step program that includes aviation
and aerospace activities
• From six to ten percent of each class entering the
military service academies are former CAP cadets
• Cadets who have earned the General Billy Mitchell
Award are eligible to enlist in the Air Force at a higher
pay grade
• Opportunities to participate and compete in activities at
the local, state, region, and national level
• Participation in the International Air Cadet Exchange program
• Scholarships available in several disciplines
• Opportunities to earn FAA pilot ratings
AEROSPACE
EDUCATION
• Educating the membership and community
• Support for more than 100 workshops at colleges throughout the
nation annually
• Develops, publishes, and distributes aerospace curriculum for
classroom grades K through college
• Each year sponsors the premier aerospace education conference,
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 an aerospace resource center for education through
CAP's web page
• Provides speakers and direct assistance to teachers through the
regional Directors of Aerospace Education
EMERGENCY
SERVICES
• Conducts over 85% of all inland search and rescue in the U.S. as
tasked by the AFRCC.
• Average 100 lives saved each year
• Provides disaster relief support to local, state, and national
disaster relief organizations
• Transport time-sensitive medical materials, blood products
and body tissue
• Provides damage assessment, radiological monitoring,
light transport, 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
• Utilize CAP's communication's network, the most
extensive in the nation
