Welcome to the Civil Air Patrol 85th Anniversary Series. Each week leading up to CAP’s milestone anniversary on Dec. 1, we will be highlighting key operations and developments in the organization’s history. This is the eighth feature of the series: “With a World-Class Fleet at its Disposal, Civil Air Patrol is Always Mission Ready.”
In the spring of 1942, a Civil Air Patrol fleet might include a biplane, a seaplane, a polished Beechcraft Staggerwing, and a 40-horsepower Aeronca nicknamed the “flying bathtub,” with all of them owned by the volunteers who flew them.
Eighty-five years later, the fleet arrives new from the factory.
On Oct. 21, Textron Aviation announced that CAP had ordered 21 more Cessna aircraft: seven Skyhawk 172s, 11 Skylane 182s, two Turbo Skylane T182Ts, and one Turbo Stationair HD 206, with deliveries expected to be completed in 2027. They will join a fleet of 541 single-engine piston aircraft — the largest of its kind in the world — flown by volunteers from 1,424 locations across the country.
The journey from borrowed planes to a standardized, glass-cockpit fleet took the better part of a century, a long campaign on Capitol Hill, and a steady partnership with the U.S. Air Force. Today the story has a new chapter, written by aircraft with no one aboard at all.
This is national artist Maj. Ron Finger’s rendering of the Beechcraft Staggerwing, one of the original aircraft flown by Coastal Patrol pilots during World War II. The artwork is part of Finger’s “CAP Timeline Flight” collection, which he drew in collaboration with Col. Frank Blazich, CAP’s national historian emeritus.
‘A Unique Opportunity to Fly’
Few people know that early fleet better than Maj. Ron Finger. From his home studio in Brainerd, Minnesota, the CAP artist has spent years recreating the aircraft that shaped the Air Force auxiliary’s history, from World War II to the present day. His work hangs at CAP National Headquarters and has appeared on the covers of national aviation publications.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, civilian pilots faced a stark choice. They could remove the wings from their planes and ground them for the duration of the war, or they could join the war effort. Many chose to fly and flocked to protect the American coast.
“For these CAP pilots, it was a unique opportunity to fly. What they brought was an incredible list of over 90 different models of aircraft over the wartime period. That’s what I’m documenting.”
An assembly of various Civil Air Patrol aircraft is visible in this 1942 photo taken in Lansing, Michigan. (Photo courtesy of CAP Historical Foundation)
One of the earliest aircraft he painted was the Fleetwings Sea Bird, among the first CAP aircraft to fly in 1942. Others ranged from the Beechcraft Staggerwing Model 17 — a “fancy plane,” in Finger’s words — to the Aeronca C-3.
“It looks like something a flight club might have put together,” he said of the C-3. “With a 40-horsepower engine, it was all over the place.”
Finger researches each plane by talking with crew members or their relatives, and by poring over records such as the yearbooks many of CAP’s 21 Coastal Patrol bases produced. Coastal Patrol Base 5 in Flagler Beach, Florida, documented its aircraft and pilots in detail.
“Going through that yearbook was like being a fly on the wall,” Finger said.
Among the most unusual early CAP aircraft was the Aero Commander U-4B, part of the small fleet President Dwight D. Eisenhower (pictured left, with Air Force One pilot Col. William Draper) used from 1956 to 1960. (U.S. Air Force photo)
The Air Force’s Leftovers
After the war, CAP became the official auxiliary of the newly created U.S. Air Force, and its fleet increasingly came from military surplus. Beginning in 1952, the Air Force allowed CAP to fly postwar L-16 Aeroncas, liaison planes CAP later owned and flew until about 1970.
The Air Force transferred some 260 more aircraft to CAP in the 1970s, Finger said. Among the most unusual were two Aero Commander U-4Bs, part of the small fleet President Dwight D. Eisenhower used from 1956 to 1960. After his heart attack, doctors urged Ike to curtail his schedule, and the planes — sometimes called the “smallest Air Force One” — carried him between Washington and his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
One of those U-4Bs, rescued from an aviation boneyard by the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. It was fully restored to its 1950s presidential configuration and placed on display in July 1997.
“When they were flying it, you would have thought somebody would have taken a picture of it,” Finger said.
Gary Schneider, who led CAP’s logistics and mission resources directorate a decade ago, summed up the era in a 2016 VOLUNTEER magazine interview: “Originally, we received the Air Force’s leftovers.”
Beginning in 1952, the U.S. Air Force allowed Civil Air Patrol to fly post-war L-16 Aeroncas, like this restored plane. The L-16s, later owned by CAP, were flown until about 1970. (Source: CAP National Headquarters)
Winning the Funding War
The shift from hand-me-downs to factory-new aircraft began not on a flight line but on Capitol Hill.
Col. John Swain joined CAP as a cadet in 1963 and later worked as a congressional staffer for New York Rep. Lester Wolff, a wartime Coastal Patrol member who founded CAP’s Congressional Squadron in 1968, and as CAP liaison to Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, one of the organization’s legislative champions. In 1973, Swain began work on a bill to help pay for aircraft maintenance.
“Back then, CAP wasn’t being reimbursed for maintenance on its airplanes unless it flew on a specific search mission,” Swain said.
The Air Force began curtailing its support for CAP in 1976, and by the mid-1980s the organization’s finances were “pretty desperate,” Swain said. The maintenance legislation finally passed in 1980, the first in a series of bills. In 1985, CAP received its first full federal funding, covering headquarters, maintenance, staff, new aircraft, and more. A year later, about $7 million from an anti-drug bill allowed CAP to purchase dozens of additional civilian aircraft.
“From 1986 on, literally our biggest job was trying to improve CAP’s funding levels,” Swain said. That funding eventually grew to about $40 million a year and to $70 million by 2025. This funding literally transformed the fleet from member-owned and ex-military old aircraft to one comprised of modern and safe new aircraft.
“It was a labor of love, which significantly improved the aircraft CAP flies every day.”
This Cessna Turbo 206 was the newest aircraft in Civil Air Patrol’s impressive fleet in 2016, part of CAP’s Surrogate UAS program that provided valuable training to U.S. and allied troops before they were deployed to combat zones overseas. Today’s Cessna Turbo 206s are mainly used in “high-altitude” areas like the Rocky Mountains where crews need the extra power to climb and to work the mountainous terrain. (Source: CAP National Headquarters)
Glass Cockpits and a Common Fleet
By the early 2000s, CAP was replacing aging airframes with new Cessna 182T Skylanes equipped with mission packages for aerial reconnaissance, including work for a newly established Department of Homeland Security (DHS). When Cessna introduced the Garmin G1000 “glass cockpit” in the Skylane in 2004, CAP’s new aircraft followed. Large digital displays replaced the traditional round gauges, giving aircrews far better situational awareness on long, low search patterns.
The fleet also branched out. In 2003, CAP added the Australian-built, eight-seat GippsAero GA8 Airvan, many of them carrying the ARCHER hyperspectral imaging system, which could spot crash sites by their spectral signature.
By 2016, the fleet included 339 Cessna 182s, 183 Cessna 172s, 35 Cessna 206s, 16 Airvans, a handful of Maules and Cessna 185s, six de Havilland Beavers being retired, 53 gliders, and two hot-air balloons.
The aircraft now in the fleet — mostly Cessnas — are equipped with more modern AERONet tactical communications and standard high-resolution digital imaging systems more suitable for lighter aircraft.
The glass cockpit of this Cessna 182T features digital flight instrument displays, rather than the traditional analog dials and gauges in older CAP aircraft, which give aircrews far better situational awareness on long, low search patterns. (Textron Aviation photo)
The Right Plane in the Right Place
Today CAP is the world’s largest operator of Cessna aircraft, and each model in the new order has a job.
The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is CAP’s primary trainer and the aircraft behind most cadet orientation rides. “The 182 Skylane is CAP's primary workhorse, we do everything from training, aerial imagery, to search and rescue with this platform,” said Rene “Mike” Valdez, CAP’s chief logistics officer. The 206 Stationair is the biggest platform, giving crews more heavy-haul capability. The 206 and the two Turbo 182s in the newest order carry turbocharged engines for high-altitude work.
The order is larger than usual. CAP typically buys about 15 aircraft a year, funded through its U.S. Air Force appropriation and a congressional offset, and sells aircraft as they retire. This year, CAP procured 20 aircraft to modernize the fleet, and additional Air Forces funds added one more, for a total of 21.
“These Cessna aircraft help ensure our members are ready when communities need us.”
A brand-new Cessna 182T — freshly painted in Civil Air Patrol’s signature red, white and blue colors — awaits delivery from Cessna piston assembly in Independence, Kansas. The 182T was delivered to a CAP delegation that toured the manufacturing plant in August. (Textron Aviation photo)
Plane Placement Tied to the Mission
Where each new plane goes depends on the mission. “I would call it an operational and mission-based model,” Valdez said. “We place aircraft where they are required to execute the CAP mission.”
Once a year, his team and senior volunteer leaders from the field review those factors and decide where aircraft will be based. CAP has aircraft in every state and Puerto Rico, and a home base isn’t permanent. During a heavy wildfire season in the Pacific Northwest, for example, commanders can surge more aircraft into the region.
Most turbocharged aircraft go to high-altitude wings in the Rocky Mountain Region, such as Colorado, where crews need the extra power to climb and to work mountainous terrain. A few are based elsewhere for missions that need high-performance engines. Sensor-equipped aircraft follow the same rule: CAP decides where a capability is needed, then picks the best aircraft to carry it.
Aircraft are bought between June and September, depending on when federal funding arrives, and deliveries begin in the first quarter of the following year. Textron works with CAP all year and reserves tail numbers in advance.
“We’re not a normal customer, right? We are their largest customer,” Valdez said.
Textron groups deliveries so crews can pick up two to four aircraft at a time at its plant in Independence, Kansas. While the planes are built, Valdez’s team finalizes assignments. Once a pickup date is firm, CAP volunteers from each receiving wing fly them home, a ferry flight that can cover more than 1,000 nautical miles.
For Valdez, every delivery matters. “This is where my team delivers mission ready resources in the form of aircraft to the field,” he said.
Brig. Gen. R. Jason Bailey, CAP’s national deputy commander, sits in the cockpit of the Cessna 182T in Kansas as Maj. Gen. Regena M. Aye, national commander and CEO, looks on. Bailey, a CAP pilot, toured the manufacturing plant with Aye and personally delivered the new aircraft to the South Carolina Wing. (Textron Aviation photo)
The Importance of Maintenance
What makes the fleet world class, Valdez said, starts with maintenance.
“We maintain our aircraft to an extremely high standard. At the end of the day, it’s still just a piece of metal,” he added. “What truly makes us world class is our pilots and our volunteers out in the field who manage and operate the equipment.
A Fleet with No One Aboard
CAP’s newest aircraft weigh as little as a few ounces.
The small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (sUAS) program grew out of disaster. After a tornado devastated Moore, Oklahoma, in May 2013, CAP, FEMA, and DHS launched a joint pilot program in 2015 with eight wings. By 2018, the program had expanded to all 52 wings, with a full-time program manager at National Headquarters.
The first real-world search came in September 2019, when the South Dakota Wing sent drones to help find a lost hiker. A month later, during a four-day search for a missing hunter, drone flights produced more than 2,500 photographs for analysts to review. In August 2021, the North Carolina Wing recorded CAP’s first drone find and save.
The program’s most striking rescue came after Hurricane Ian battered Florida’s Gulf Coast in 2022. A CAP drone strike team spotted signs of life aboard a boat that storm surge had pushed deep into a mangrove swamp near Fort Myers Beach. The quadcopter that found it weighed just under three pounds.
“When we heard that there was in fact a survivor identified from our work and from our imagery, it only encouraged us to continue to operate,” said 1st Lt. Casey Calamaio of the Alabama Wing, a member of the team, in a May 2023 VOLUNTEER interview.
Today CAP’s mission-capable drone fleet numbers roughly 400 fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Qualified members serve on strike teams that can deploy within 48 hours of a request. Drones can fly lower than crewed aircraft and into areas too risky for aircrews, and cadets as young as 12 can train as technicians.
CAP is investing heavily in the technology. CAP recently bought 34 new Skydio X10D drones, and the national program is also fielding Wingtra mapping drones and thermal imaging payloads.
“That’s going to be a big part of our mission set moving forward,” Valdez said.
UAS pilot Maj. Donny Weiand supervises the automatic landing of the CAP Skydio X10D, which had been used to map a hiking trail to look for a simulated missing hiker in South Dakota. The drone took hundreds of photos on a pre-programmed course, including visible light and infrared. (Source: CAP National Headquarters)
The Mission Keeps Expanding
This summer, South Dakota Wing drone crews flew 10 sorties to simulate airspace incursions for the Air National Guard’s 114th Fighter Wing during a combat readiness inspection, helping the Air Force train against the kind of drone threats it now faces at its bases.
Col. Mike Beason, who directs the wing’s drone program, called it “a new category” of support for the Air Guard.
For now, drones and crewed aircraft fly the same kinds of missions, search and rescue and aerial imagery, but not yet as one coordinated system. A crew may use a drone in place of an airplane or alongside one. What CAP doesn’t yet have is a codified mission set in which, say, three drones and a 182 operate as a team.
The Next Generation
For all its technology, the fleet still serves the same people it always has: a community in trouble and a young person looking up.
CAP’s 37,000 cadets fly in the same aircraft that search for missing hikers and photograph disaster zones. For many, a first orientation flight in a CAP Cessna is the start of a career in aviation.
In 15 years, Valdez expects crewed and uncrewed aircraft working in tandem on a “larger scale and much more robust and modern.” Once stationed at Creech Air Force Base, a hub for the Air Force’s remotely piloted aircraft, he sees no reason CAP can’t adapt that kind of teamwork for search and rescue and disaster recovery.
“I think when CAP turns 100, we’re going to have a much more integrated fleet.”
Back in Minnesota, Finger is still painting. His goal, like a baseball fan’s dream of visiting every big-league park, is to paint every aircraft CAP has flown in its 85-year history. He often shares prints with cadets.
“When I see the light in their eyes as far as being interested in the history and the stories,” he said, “that’s high payment right there.”
Be a Part of the Story
Civil Air Patrol pilots fly more than 100,000 hours annually in support of disaster relief and emergency services operations. CAP aircrews help with search missions, communications, taking photos, even transportation of relief supplies.
CAP pilots also provide both cadet and teacher orientation flights — thousands of them — year-round.
With more than 1,400 local units nationwide, there’s a CAP flying opportunity near you.
To learn more about membership and find your local unit, visit this “how to join” page.
