CAP Condor Squadron (1972)

7/28/2019 CAP Condor Squadron (1972)

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By DON DWIGGINS tT'S NO SECRET that America'snationwide Air Force Auxitiary, theCivil Air Patrol, a quasi-military outfit,came under this magazine's censurenot long ago because of what itseditors consider a less than praise-worthy track record in teaching itscadets to fly.ln case you've forgotten, the CAPwas bom of battle during World WarTl. at a limq when virtualll a.ll cirilianflying was curtailed during the nation-al emergency. President Franklin D.Roosevelt called for 100,000 war-planes to darken the skies, but pilotsto fly them he did not have. Out ofthis situation emerged two widelydisparate organizations, the CAP andthe WTS. The latter. known as the War

FOUND:aCAPcadetprogram

that reallvswings! 'uIN VAN NUYS, CALIFORNIA, THE CONDOR S1UADRONCADETS DON'T JUST MARCH _ THEY FLY!Eager cadets g(t d nat) htiefing Jiomlnrlructor l/dletie Demirdiiatt, one oJ'sererul \rho donate tlme to the progran.

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Sewice, was created onJ l, lq4l. as a mililariTalionthe Civil Aeronautics Authority'sPilot Training Programbom in lg38 as a depre.sionwidely criticized at the time as aand a "fraudulent war-govemment agency."

Fortunately, due to FDR'S vision,CPT/WTS got rolling, swept flightinto every corner of theand helped more than 400,000men win their wings, amongsuch heroes as John Glenn, JoeFoss and America's leading fighter ace,Bong.Civilian coun terpart of the

was, you may remember,the Civil Air Patrol, a branch of the

nation's Office of Civilian Defensewhich signed up more than12,000,000 civilian dfense voluntee$,largest organizalion of its kind inhistory. Civilian pilots unqualified formilitary service organized into patrolsquadrons for non-conbat home-dutymissions, searching for saboteurs,enemy submarines in coastal watersand the like.From the start there were grumb-lings, despite the fact that the majorityof CAP personnel were dedicaled air-men doing the best they could. Criticsclaimed they were able to get gasolineration stamps and fly in restricteddefense zones when other civilianpilots were grounded for the duration.But, that's war lor you.

Today, CAI pilots donate their timelargely ro aerial searches for missingaircraft and related missions. andagain, despite the dedication of themajority, there is still criticism, mosdyfrom outsiders jealous of their freechits that permit weekend flYing inwar surplus trainers that gobble gaslike it was going out of stYle. Inaddition, one significant mission ofCAP, as a USAF auxilary, is to sefle asa standby force able to inspire andtrain America's youth in the mysteriesof airmanship and so help to exPandthis country's pilot pool of readY-made birdmen.Not all CAP squadrons seem to havemet this responsibility; cadets andsenior members alike have confirmedthat training planes donated to theCAP by the Air Force are seldom ornever flown by cadets. But, as oftenhappens, you can sometimes find YourBlue Bird right in your own backyard.Hidden back in PLANE & PILOT'SArt Department is this attractive gal-type artist, Valerie Demirdjian, whoseonly goal in life seems to be to make awriter's work look better than it rcallyis. Little did we know that she led adouble life, aid was dona{ing evcryspare minute of her tine to cadcttaining out at Condor Cladet Squad-ron l6Z a CAP unit based at Van NuYsAirport in Los Angeles."Yorr should comc see a realswingin' operation," she pleaded."This one is for real!"We had known Val wls a pilot, butsomehow suspected she was just adumb blonde thrilled over airplanes.We wcre only half riglrt. Val has beenhooked on flying since she was a kid,but she is no dumb blonde. Married toan Air Force pilot, Lieutenant JohnDemirdjian, she lives, thinks, flies anddraws airplanes, is holder of a commer-cial airman's certificate with instructorrating, and is about to go for her IFRcard.Val, too, was a little disillusionedwith th CAP, which she joincd at l6with the mistaken idea this would leadto an immediate takeoff intQ the wildblue yonder. "lt was the only thing Iever really wanted to do," she recalls."l'd listened to all those radiocommercials, how You join the CAP

"You h)ill gct 56,0()0 dentrritt il-toumal\t rn rn ruute Jeten t Lt J jdil t,clear the ai6pace you descend into .. -''


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stdpes he's eligible for a cockpit checka T-6, which works as a fineThis unique flight tnining program,began in September, 1971, nowtotals 26 active cadets, half of them onflight status. One boy, Robert Bych,18, had been flying akeady for 2%

and is a rated private pilot. Sixother cadets have been soloed sincethe program started - Doyle Smith,18, Joe Cornwell, 18, Bdan Kramer,17, his brother Mike, 17, Steve Hart,17, and Terry Trien, 17.Thc Condor Squadron programrequires 20 hours of dual prior to solo,and when we visited the base, threeother cadets were halging aroundanxious to get in more presolo time -Neil Friedman, Phillip Parker andRandy Marsh. There is no nepotisminvolved where Randy is concemed,even tholgh his dad is SquadronCommander. In fact, he works just aliltle harder. says Vai. to prove he's inthere flying in eamest.Weekend flying is not the wholestory - during the year cadets areexposed to as much as they can absorbin today's aerospace world. There aretrips to the control tower at VanNuys. the nadon's busiest airporl . . .DC-8 flight simulators to fly at theFlying Tiger hangar at LAX (TheTigers are among the squadron'ssponsors). . . three-day mountain sur-vival courses.. , weekend encamp-ments.The very looseness of this CAPcadet program apparently is its bestvirtue, because the CFls aren't boundby rigd FAA rules or military discip-line. "If we find something worksbetter, we do it that way," says Val.Item: For every hour flying time witha cadet, she puts in a full hour ofclassroom briefing on what they'regoing to do upstairs, plus an hour'sdebriefing.Val uses both partial panel andintegrated instrument training, favorsspin demonstrations, actual forcedlandings and aerobatics as vital to goodappreciation of what an airplane cando, Item: when one of her boys tookoff on a solo cross-country and foundthe airspeed indicator inoperative, hecalmly radioed the tower, declared anemergency, returned and landed.

There's only one slight problem Valhas found with these eager youngfellows they fall in love with her atfirst sight. But hell, can you blamethem? tr

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CAP Condor Squadron (1972)