Local Civil Air Patrol Squadron Presents A Plaque As A Token Of Appreciation To Boca Raton Airport Authority At The Boca Raton City Hall
L-R: Civil Air Patrol Cadet/1st Lt. Michael Romega with Clara Bennett, Executive Director BRAA and Civil Air Patrol Boca Raton Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Michael T. Harding
Boca Raton, FL- The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Boca Raton Composite Squadron presented a plaque to the Boca Raton Airport Authority(BRAA) in appreciation for a generous donation to help pay for leasing space at the Boca Raton Airport.
Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Michael T. Harding said: “CAP greatly appreciates the generous donation from BRAA which is used for leasing a hangar holding the squadron’s Cessna 182 G1000 provided by the Air Force, and the adjacent half hangar where the squadron conducts training and weekly meetings. The Cessna aircraft is used to conduct Emergency Services training, Search and Rescue Operations, Disaster Relief, Cadet Orientation flights, and other operations as tasked by the Air Force. The meeting space operates as a training and equipment storage facility as well as an Operations Center. Our bare bones meeting space hangar still needs insulation and a second floor to make it a fully functional training base in South Florida, but we’re working on it!”
“Because of the support of the Boca Raton Airport Authority, over the past year we were able to find a missing aircraft, save a missing person, assist in two hurricane relief missions, and numerous other missions to support the community and the Air Force. The local community greatly benefits from CAP services especially during and after natural disasters and when assistance is needed in finding missing planes, boats or people on land. We work closely with local organizations such as the Red Cross, local Police, Coast Guard and others. During the past year a Ground Search and Rescue team of the Boca Raton Squadron found an elderly missing man in Pembroke Pines and was able to reunite him with his family.”
Civil Air Patrol was founded Dec. 1, 1941, by a group of aviation enthusiasts and private pilots who wanted to donate their time and aircraft to protect the nation’s coastlines during World War II and to perform other critical civil defense missions. Lt. Col. Harding said: “CAP is an integral part of the history and operations of the Boca Raton Airport, dating back to WWII when the Army Air Corps used the airport as a training base. Today CAP is actively involved in training young people in Aerospace Education. Many of our former cadets excel in their careers and attribute much of their success to the training they received while serving with the Civil Air Patrol.”
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 61,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 158 lives in fiscal year 2018. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 22,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 77 years. For more information, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com.
