October 6, 2018

Change of Command Ceremony for the 58th Composite Squadron

By: Second Lieutenant Emily Estes

Oh what a night for the 58th Composite Squadron in Portland, Maine! Not only were two cadets and one senior member promoted, but there was a change of command ceremony! Cadet Chief Master Sergeant Emrich-Shanks was promoted to Cadet Chief Master Sergeant Level II. Cadet Senior Airman St. Clair was promoted to Cadet Staff Sergeant. Senior Member Lapointe was promoted to Second Lieutenant.

C/SSgt St.Clair being pinned by his father, Second Lieutenant St. Clair, and his grandfather, Gene St. Clair.

The outgoing First Sergeant C/MSgt Lambert ended her term and passed on her position to the incoming First Sergeant Cadet Technical Sergeant Corcoran. The outgoing cadet commander Cadet Senior Master Sergeant Sawicki ended her term and passed on her position to the incoming cadet commander Cadet Master Sergeant Lambert. C/CMSgt Emrich-Shanks ended his term as deputy commander. C/SSgt St. Clair ended his term as the Supply Sergeant and has now become a Flight Sergeant. Cadet Senior Airman Griffin has now become the new Supply Sergeant.

Squadron Commander Captain Robinson hands over the guide on to C/MSgt Lambert. 

September 27, 2018

WWII Bomber Planes Make An Appearance

By: Second Lieutenant Emily Estes

Ever wanted to travel back in time and see some of the bomber planes from past wars? The Collings Foundation Airshow hosted an event at the Portland International Airport September 19th, 2018 - September 21st, 2018. During this event, the B-24J Liberator, P-51 Mustang and the B-25 Mitchell were on display as well as taking passengers on flights. Senior members from the 58th Composite Squadron based out of Portland, Maine, was asked to volunteer during the event to do flight line security. Each day, about five senior members from the squadron volunteered to help out.

 Photo of P-51 Mustang taken by Second Lieutenant Terry Lambert

During the event, senior members are able to walk around and view the antique planes as if they were part of the public crowd. On Thursday, one of our Public Affair Officers, Second Lieutenant Emily Estes was talking pictures of the planes, inside and out. When asking one of the Co-Pilot’s of the B-25 Mitchell, Clark Labbe, for special permission to enter the cockpit of the plane to take some pictures, he surprised her by offering her to take a flight with them on the plane. Without hesitation, she said yes. Another senior member, Captain Eric Earle, was also offered a flight in the B-25 Mitchell and without any hesitation at all, he agreed.

Photo of B-25 Mitchell taken by 2d Lt. Estes

After the flight, Capt. Earle commented, “If it wasn’t for Civil Air Patrol, today would probably have never happened. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so very thankful that the crew allowed us to take a flight in the B-25. I will never forget this amazing opportunity.”

Photo of P-51 Mustang taken by 2d Lt. Terry Lambert

During the flight, the occupants on the plane were able to unbuckle and move around. Lt. Estes spent most of the flight in the back of the plane were the machine gun was located. Many pictures and even a couple of videos were taken during the flight.

Photo taken by 2d Lt. Estes in flight on the B-25 Mitchell

The Collings Foundation mission is to support living history events and preserving historical artifacts that enables Americans to learn more about the past and their heritage. They are based out of Stow, Massachusetts but they travel all over the United States to present their displays to the public. A major focus of the foundation has been the “Wings of Freedom Tour” which showcases the B-24 Liberator, B-17 Flying Fortress, P-51 Mustang and the B-25 Mitchell.

B-24 Liberator

Encampment 2018 Canceled

CAP National Flight Academy Teaches Young Cadets to Fly!

Old Town- Eighteen Civil Air Patrol cadets will learn to fly this week at the National Powered Flight Academy held at Dewitt Field in Old Town. Cadets 16-19 years old from every state in New England and from as far away as Florida, Michigan, Tennessee, and South Carolina, will learn to fly, instructed by ten CAP certified flight instructors. The flight instructors and staff are volunteering their time during the week of June 22 to June 30th to help instruct and expose these young cadets to aviation. The academy has been held in Old Town the last six years, hosted by the City of Old Town and the airport staff. Cadets will receive 10 hours of flight instruction and approximately 25 hours of ground school about flight rules and aerodynamics. Several of the cadets will solo by the end of the week.

Cadet Amos Grant, from Leeds Maine, said “Every day is intense flight training. We started flying the first day! The instructor turned the controls over to me and had me climbing and making turns right after takeoff.” Cadets are staying at the Bangor Air National Guard facility for the week. CAP has brought ten Cessna 172 aircraft from several states to support this activity and to provide the flight instruction. Cadets will learn on various models of the Cessna 172 including the latest computer equipped Garmin G-1000 glass cockpit found in many commercial aircraft. Lieutenant Colonel Cathie Spaulding, Director of this year’s flight academy, stated, “Cadets really benefit from the concentrated instruction from CAP’s experienced flight instructors. The cadets are excited to learn during a week of all aviation”.

Aircrews will use various airfields in the Bangor area for takeoff and landing practice, including Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Old Town, Lincoln, Pittsfield, and the Bangor Airports. The cadets will learn crosswind take-offs and landings, traffic patterns, stalls, turns around a point and steep turns. Ground school will include topics like weather, radio communications, taxiing, traffic pattern operations, aircraft weight and balance, aerodynamics, aircraft engines, flight mechanics, and preflight planning.

Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force. In this role, CAP operates a fleet of 560 aircraft, performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 80 lives annually. CAP’s 60,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. In addition, CAP plays a leading role in aerospace/STEM education, and its members serve as mentors to over 25,000 young people participating in CAP’s Cadet Programs. Visit www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com or www.CAP.news for more information.

The Cyberpatriot quarter final results were announced on February 1^st. The Bangor Squadron (NER 035) placed first in the all-services division in the state of Maine, the cadets also placed second nationwide in the all-services Silver tier Division besting over 200 CAP, Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine JROTC teams. C/A1C Aiden Dow and C/Amn Christopher Persinger came to the competition rounds eager and prepared and it was a pleasure to see them so engaged. This qualifies them to go on the semi-finals round. Capt. Michael Mitchell is the senior member coach of the Cyberpatriot Team.

The National Youth Cyber Education Program (CyberPatriot) was created by the Air Force Association (AFA) to inspire students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future. At the center of CyberPatriot is the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. The competition puts teams of high school and middle school students in the position of newly hired IT professionals tasked with managing the network of a small company. In the rounds of competition, teams are given a set of virtual images that represent operating systems and are tasked with finding cybersecurity vulnerabilities within the images and hardening the system while maintaining critical services.  Teams compete for the top placement within their state and region, and the top teams in the nation earn all-expenses paid trips to Baltimore, MD for the National Finals Competition where they can earn national recognition and scholarship money.​

The round always begins with the "ReadMe". This document details the role the competitor will play in the competition, usually that the competitor is a newly hired systems administrator and gives a brief description of the system requirements, What should be available to which users, what users should have admin roles vs user roles, and mostly, what is unacceptable on the system regarding software and stored files. The competitors gain points based on the corrections they make to the "compromised system" and then additional points for the steps they take to correct items that leave the system open to attack. A perfect score is 100 points per Operating system. In the Quarter finals, there were 3. The point values for each correction vary based on the severity of the vulnerability. There are also "forensic" questions that challenge the Competitor's problem solving skills. 

This year, there are over 3000 Teams worldwide that participate in the competition. This is split into High School, Middle School, and All-services divisions. CAP participates in the All-services Division which includes Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine ROTC's plus Sea Cadets and CAP Cadets. This group numbered 1109 teams. After the first 2 rounds the teams were further divided into Tiers. Bangor Squadron was part of the Silver Tier which compromised approximately 300 teams. Bangor Squadron placed first nationwide in the All-services Division, Silver Tier for the Quarter- Final Round, qualifying then to proceed to the Semi-Finals. The Semi Finals are to take place this coming weekend.

Maine Wing – U S Air Force Auxiliary - Civil Air Patrol Assists Maine Warden Service in Missing Person Search

Maine Wing Ground Teams were requested by the Maine Warden Service to assist in a ground search for a 50 year old woman, missing since going out for an evening walk on Sunday. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center quickly approved the mission and CAP ground teams from squadrons in Portland, Lewiston, Bar Harbor and Bangor answered the call. Cold overnight temperatures in the teens and single numbers caused the Wardens to request additional search parties.

The Maine Wing Communications Trailer was set up overnight to assist ground communication and coordination. Game Wardens, local fire departments and volunteer search teams including mounted and canine search groups assembled at the Bradford Town Office early this morning to start the search. Wardens discovered the woman cold and walking down a local road shortly after all the teams had assembled. She was transported to a local hospital for evaluation. Wardens will talk with her once she has recovered.

Lt. Kevin Adam, the Maine Warden Service Search and Rescue Coordinator, said “He was glad of the successful outcome and of the skilled teams that were available for the search”. “The woman had dressed warmly for her walk and that contributed to her survival in such cold conditions.”

Awakening a Sleeping Giant

By 2Lt. James Merrill, CAP, Maine Wing, 77^th Composite Squadron

It was an early Sunday morning back in 1941; the Pearl was peaceful, quiet as she greeted the rising sun.

The harbor waters were calm, there was stillness in the air, and crews aboard their ships had not a worry or a care.

The Arizona was a beauty, proudly anchored below the morning skies, the Utah and Missouri anchored near her, awaiting crews to rise.

No one had a clue that peaceful morning the terror soon to come, the roar of airplane engines sounded like the beating of a thousand drums.

 The day that would live in infamy would soon be here, when that roar off in the distance was now so very near.

A sleeping giant would be awoken as one Japanese Admiral would soon say, and it brought our great country united on that terrible and dreadful day.

From farms and mountain valleys, from sea to shining sea, young men came by the thousands to raise their right hands and take an oath so one day we’d all be free.

They fought on islands scattered along South Pacific shores, like Saipan, the Marshall Islands, Guadalcanal, Corregidor.

Dedicated nurses cared for the wounded as battles would rage on; God bless those nurses who gave so much, each and every one.

Young men landed on beachheads along the shores of Normandy, they fought in open fields of France and in thick forests of Germany.

God Bless them all and we thank them all, it is because of them America is free.

James Merrill is a Air Force Combat Veteran of the Vietnam War