Civil Air Patrol honors Louise McPhetridge Thaden, an early member of CAP.
CAP’s national artist, Maj. Ron Finger, has depicted a historic aircraft similar to one Thaden flew during the 1940s.
Louise McPhetridge Thaden (1905-1979) began her aviation career in 1926 with her first solo flight and rapidly became a major figure in the aviation world.
Over the next 10 years she set air records in many categories and won numerous awards, culminating with the Harmon Trophy Award in 1936 as Outstanding Aviatrix of the Year. That year she and her Beechcraft Staggerwing co-pilot, Blanche Noyes, won the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race, flying from New York to Los Angeles in just under 15 hours.
Thaden began her Civil Air Patrol service in the 1940s. After serving as squadron commander at Roanoke, Virginia, she later became chair of the CAP National Commander’s Training Committee.
In 1959, the CAP mission pilot got the chance to go a little faster and a little higher as she got her first jet flight in a New Hampshire Army National Guard T-33A Shooting Star.
Even better, the National Guard pilot was her son, Bill Thaden.
The Curtiss-Robertson Robin C-1 was one of the CAP aircraft flown out of Coastal Patrol Base No.16 in Manteo, North Carolina. Although Thaden was not a coastal patrol participant, she often flew the colorful “Robin” model, a popular choice for early aviators with its six-cylinder “Challenger” 170-185-horsepower engine.
The 1943 Disney insignia created for Base No. 16 featured a giant mosquito attacking a submarine with its proboscis. For whatever reason, the base never used the distinctive design.
