Glider Disassembly Part at Byron

By 1st Lt Matthew Gast, photos by Capt Lutz Heinrich

Members of Squadron 188 (Lt Gast, Capt Heinrich, and SM Alexei Roudnev), Squadron 144 (2d Lt Van Henson), and NVWG (Nevada Wing, Maj Bob Semans) met at Byron airport today to have a glider disassembly party.

The LET L-23 Super Blanik used by CAP in northern California is headed off to Sacramento for maintenance.  Although the forty-mile trip from its home base in Byron to Sacramento Executive airport would be simple for a powered aircraft, gliders often are transported by road in specialized trailers.


A crew of six, including the 5 CAP members and one member of the local soaring club, disassembled our glider and packed it up in a trailer for the trip to Sacramento, and advanced ground instructor and aircraft manager Lt Gast provided instruction and sign-off to interested members.

We are, of course, looking forward to the return of the glider because it is far more fun to spend all that time assembling the glider to fly it afterward!

All Hands Meeting - June 2015

By 1st Lt Karin Hollerbach and Lt Col Juan Tinnirello, photos by Lt Col Tinnirello

Maj DeFord

Maj Steven DeFord led the June All Hands meeting. The meeting opened with Lt Col Juan Tinnirello leading the squadron in a recitation of the pledge of allegiance.

At the meeting, CAP’s non-discrimination policy was reviewed and discussed.  All members are requested to review CAPR 36-1.

May Activities
The May monthly recap included:

• Ardent Sentry and Wing Evaluation
• Constant Watch
• Hayward Open House (with a thank you to 1st Lt Eric Choate for organizing)
• Aerospace Education Excellence (AEX), led by 1st Lt Pat Bitz
• High Altitude Chamber training
• Airborne Photography (AP) Ground School 

Several members participating in these events made comments about their experiences.

1st Lt Jim Hipp

The squadron responded to 4 ELT missions and one overdue aircraft mission.

ES Ratings
Congratulations to the following members:

• Maj Luneau – achieving his CAP glider tow pilot rating and for being promoted to IC2
• SM Indrebo – achieving his CAP Glider Orientation Pilot and Instructor rating

Thanks to all who have completed their cadet protection training.  We are now at 87% complete, with only 5 members outstanding.  You know who you are!  Please, make sure to complete the online portion so we can be 100% done before the deadline.


Upcoming Events
Upcoming events include:

• AP taskings
• Group 5+2 DREX at KSAC on 20-21 June
• National Emergency Services Academy (NESA) training from July 19 – August 1



Maj Chris Johnson

• Group 2 DRE, tentatively 29-30 August

Safety Education

2d Lt Roberts

2d Lt Tim Roberts provided a review of the Safety Beacon.

Civil Air Patrol in History - 1953

By 1st Lt Karin Hollerbach

A while ago 1st Lt Eric Choate and his cousin were digging through old aviation magazines and found this gem about Civil Air Patrol, published in Flying magazine in August 1953!   My, how times have changed.  

CAP had quite a few cadet members back then (over 48,000), not to mention airplanes: 7,681 according to the article, including 2,773 apparently privately owned by non-CAP members.  It's unclear how many of the planes were, in fact, owned by CAP members; since that was more the norm then, it would have gone unremarked in the article.  

We do need more aircrew training:  CAP had 16,783 rated pilots in 1953, although only 15 were glider pilots... hmmm.   Today, we are doing better in some categories than in others!   Who is attending the Mission Aircrew School this summer?  If we had that many pilots in CAP, maybe we, too, could give 47,680 hours of O-Rides to cadets.

And now the question:  were any of you readers CAP members in the 50s?  We know we have one 50+ year member in our squadron, but 60+ years...   If anyone reading this was a CAP member in 1953, we'd love to hear from you!

Thanks to Flying magazine's Managing Editor for letting us use the article in this blog.

Article Published in Flying Magazine in August 1953