Author Description

Author Frank Blazich has spent years researching and compiling disparate records of Civil Air Patrol's short-lived--but influential--coastal patrol operations of World War II, which he synthesizes into the first scholarly monograph that cements the legacy of this unique and vital wartime civil-military cooperative effort.This volume relates the proud history of an important organization, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), and its efforts to use civilian-owned aircraft and volunteer pilots to help combat the U-boat menace that threatened America's shores in World War II. Though that story is not well known, it has been chronicled previously, but not with Frank Blazich's attention to detail and important corrections to CAP's effectiveness during the war. CAP's substantial accomplishments will be familiar to members of that fine organization that does much to inculcate a spirit of "airmindedness," as Billy Mitchell called it, among today's youth and motivate them towards careers in both civil and military aviation. But Blazich has gone far beyond a statistical recounting of sorties and hours flown, of the long tedious hours of patrol, and the sheer terror of engine failure far out at sea or an airfield closed in by weather as the fuel gauge approaches empty. Instead, he uses the successful mobilization of civilian "experts" (and they certainly knew more about aviation than many members of the general population) to come to their nation's aid in a time of crisis. By doing so, he reminds future commanders and planners to consider the use of civil resources and highlights issues that are likely to emerge in mobilizing these important assets, from the legal status of noncombatants to the importance of logistical support and sustainment.The potential uses of civilian aviation experts in future crises are limited only by the imagination. The Civil Air Patrol, as currently organized and equipped, could easily provide reconnaissance and light logistical support in the event of war. C