The Civil Air Patrol in WWII

The Civil Air Patrol originated as an organization designed to unite the civilian pilots of america for the purpose of national defense. It was founded on December 1st 1941 as the Civilian Air Reserve, a mere seven days prior to the attacks at Pearl Harbor. After the attack, the united states government sought a corps of civilian aviators that could be trusted with national defense. The Departments of War, Commerce, and the Navy all approved, paving the way for the Civil Air Patrol. As the war dragged on and german U-boats continued to attack american ships off of the eastern united states (the U-boats sunk 204 vessels off of american shores early in the war), the Civil Air Patrol was tasked with patrolling the coastline. Armed with small 100 lb bombs (or 300 lb depth charges on the larger planes) the civil air patrol began regular naval patrols along the whole eastern seaboard, achieving great success along the way. The coastal patrols reported 173 U-boats, attacked 83, and sunk 2. By this point CAP had proved their worth to the department of war which officially chartered the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary under the department of the air force. In the later parts of the war, the Civil Air Patrol functioned as a search and rescue and pilot training force. Some notable figures from WWII were also members of CAP eg. Charles Lindbergh. Their successes in world war 2 secured CAPs place as a permanent auxiliary.