Some Interesting CAP Members of the Past

[sardak]

While researching the TIME magazine archives, I found quite a few articles about CAP dating back to our beginnings. The articles about CAP itself deserve their own thread(s), so this one is about some CAP members of the past who were famous enough to be mentioned in TIME.

People: Jan. 26, 1942

José Iturbi, 46, pianist-conductor, private pilot, enlisted in OCD's Civil Air Patrol, to help do ferrying work, eagle-eye the coast. Spanish-born  Iturbi took out his first U.S. citizenship papers last August.
**************
From a website about Iturbi
http://www.joseiturbi.com/p/bio-4.htm

In 1938, Iturbi had been taking flying lessons for two years. He soloed in Atlanta, emerging with a jubilant "What has Lindbergh got that I haven't?" He had the flying fever, badly. He spent the next few months hopping from country to country on an extended South American tour that enabled him to perform some 35 concerts all over the continent in less than two months.

The newspapers must have expected the flying "stunt" to be a mere fad, for in 1940 an interviewer expressed some surprise not only of Iturbi's love of flying, but his extensive knowledge as well. "He just about eats it and sleeps it," said the writer. With the help of his plane, Iturbi was making three transcontinental trips a week for some 100,000 miles a year.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Iturbi was as enraged as any born-and-bred American. He immediately wrote letters to President and Mrs. Roosevelt , asking to serve in any way he could. He had hoped to get into the U.S. Army Air Corps but at 46 was considered too old, so he joined the newly formed Civil Air Patrol (CAP) instead. He already had more than 800 hours as a pilot by that time, and was commissioned a major.

Whether it was bond drives, USO shows, or entertaining troops at their bases, he was there. He accompanied soldiers on their training exercises. He joined a group of Hollywood stars on a huge nationwide tour to sell war bonds. The tour's goal was to sell $500 million dollars worth of bonds. Actual bond sales totaled over a billion dollars—in 1943 currency!

Iturbi Wikipedia page  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Iturbi

***************
Milestones, Feb. 24, 1947

Died. Colonel Earle L. Johnson, 52, national commander of the Civil Air Patrol, when an engine of the Army C45 he was piloting exploded, plunged the plane 2,000 feet to the ground, near Cleveland.
***********
Milestones, Feb. 2, 1953

Married. Dulcie Hofmann Steinhardt, fiftyish, widow of Laurence A. Steinhardt, onetime (1939-41) troubleshooting U.S. Ambassador to Russia who was killed in the crash of an embassy plane while Ambassador to Canada in 1950; and Air Force Major General Lucas V. Beau, 57, national commander of the Civil Air Patrol and wartime commanding general of the Mediterranean Air Transport Service in Africa and Italy; both for the second time; in Rockville Centre, N.Y.
**************
Cover April 26, 1954
Briggs Cunnigham was on the cover which means an article on the inside. He sent a letter to the editor which appeared in the May 10 issue:

Sir:
... I think the article is well done, and hope it increases the readers interest in sports cars in general, and road racing in particular . . . One mistake is the statement about my flying for the Coast Guard during World War II; it should have been the Civil Air Patrol

Who was Briggs Cunningham? This is from his Wikipedia page: Briggs Swift Cunningham II (January 19, 1907 – July 2, 2003) was an American entrepreneur and sportsman, who raced automobiles and yachts. Born into a wealthy family, he became a racing car constructor, driver, and team owner as well as a sports car manufacturer and automobile collector. He skippered the first victorious 12-Metre yacht Columbia in the 1958 America's Cup race, and invented the eponymous device, the Cunningham, to increase the speed of racing sailboats.  He was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1993, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1997, and named to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2003.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briggs_Cunningham
*************
People, Feb. 10, 1958

Credited with some 70 hours of flight time, slim Rosina Quarles, blue-yondering wife of the Deputy Secretary of Defense and grandma of seven, got her pilot's wings and second-looey bars in the Civil Air Patrol. Expecting her checkout as a CAP search pilot, Aviatrix Quarles owned up to one frustration: "I'd like to fly jets, but my husband won't let me."

Her husband Donald Quarles was both Secretary of the Air Force and Deputy Secretary of Defense.
*********
From a September 7, 2007 article "The 50 Worst Cars of All Time"

1957 King Midget Model III

The King Midget story reminds us what a middle-class nation the U.S. was in the '50s. Claud Dry and Dale Orcutt, of Athens, Ohio, buddies from the Civil Air Patrol, wanted to sell bare-boned utility car that anybody could afford, unlike that bloody elitist peacenik Henry Ford with his fancy Model T. King Midget's cars made the Model T look like a Bugatti Royale. In the late 1940s, they began offering the single-seat Model I as a home-built, $500 kit, containing the frame, axles and sheetmetal patterns, so that the body panels could be fabricated by local tradesmen. Any single-cylinder engine would power it. The result was a truly crap-tastic little vehicle, the four-wheel equivalent to those Briggs-and-Stratton powered minibikes. Amazingly, Midget Motors continued to develop and sell mini-cars until the late 1960s. The crown jewel was the Model III, introduced in 1957, a little folded-steel crackerbox powered by a 9-hp motor. Government safety standards, at long last, put the King Midget out of our misery.

A picture of the King Midget Model III  http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1657867_1657682,00.html

Mike

[skymaster]

While researching the TIME magazine archives, I found quite a few articles about CAP dating back to our beginnings. The articles about CAP itself deserve their own thread(s), so this one is about some CAP members of the past who were famous enough to be mentioned in TIME.

People: Jan. 26, 1942

José Iturbi, 46, pianist-conductor, private pilot, enlisted in OCD's Civil Air Patrol, to help do ferrying work, eagle-eye the coast. Spanish-born  Iturbi took out his first U.S. citizenship papers last August.
**************
From a website about Iturbi
http://www.joseiturbi.com/p/bio-4.htm

In 1938, Iturbi had been taking flying lessons for two years. He soloed in Atlanta, emerging with a jubilant "What has Lindbergh got that I haven't?" He had the flying fever, badly. He spent the next few months hopping from country to country on an extended South American tour that enabled him to perform some 35 concerts all over the continent in less than two months.

The newspapers must have expected the flying "stunt" to be a mere fad, for in 1940 an interviewer expressed some surprise not only of Iturbi's love of flying, but his extensive knowledge as well. "He just about eats it and sleeps it," said the writer. With the help of his plane, Iturbi was making three transcontinental trips a week for some 100,000 miles a year.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Iturbi was as enraged as any born-and-bred American. He immediately wrote letters to President and Mrs. Roosevelt , asking to serve in any way he could. He had hoped to get into the U.S. Army Air Corps but at 46 was considered too old, so he joined the newly formed Civil Air Patrol (CAP) instead. He already had more than 800 hours as a pilot by that time, and was commissioned a major.

Whether it was bond drives, USO shows, or entertaining troops at their bases, he was there. He accompanied soldiers on their training exercises. He joined a group of Hollywood stars on a huge nationwide tour to sell war bonds. The tour's goal was to sell $500 million dollars worth of bonds. Actual bond sales totaled over a billion dollars—in 1943 currency!

Iturbi Wikipedia page  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Iturbi

Mike

Courtesy of the Georgia State Archives, here is a photo from 1943 of José Iturbi, famed piano virtuoso and a major in the Civil Air Patrol, performing a bit of music for the benefit of patients at Lawson General Military Hospital on a Saturday afternoon. In Atlanta to give a concert that Sunday, Iturbi took time out to play for Lawson men in the Red Cross Recreation Hall and in several wards, exhibiting an extensive repertoire from Chopin and Liszt to boogie-woogie. Soldiers in the picture are, left to right, Private First Class Josef Danick, Augusta; Private D. H. Gattone, Philadelphia; Private Charles Rollins, Asheville, NC; and Private First Class Alfred Robinson, Hyde Park, Mass.

He appeared as an actor-performer in several filmed musicals of the 1940s, beginning with 1943's Thousands Cheer for MGM and again in Three Daring Daughters in 1948, and starring along with Jeanette MacDonald. (He usually appeared as himself in most films). He later was featured in MGM's Anchors Aweigh, which starred Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, as well as several other MGM movies of the era.

[MSG Mac]

In addition to those listed other Hollywood "personalities" include Mary Astor, Cliff Robinson, and Jerry Lewis.

[Garibaldi]

In addition to those listed other Hollywood "personalities" include Mary Astor, Cliff Robinson, and Jerry Lewis.

Don't forget the Munchkin...

[Mitchell 1969]

In addition to those listed other Hollywood "personalities" include Mary Astor, Cliff Robinson, and Jerry Lewis.

Was Jerry Lewis an actual member, or was it all just a PR thing, with maybe an honorary membership or a one-year dues paid?

I've only seen one photo of him in "uniform," posing with two cadets. He's wearing a khaki shirt as a SM without grade, no insignia on his flight cap and dark trousers (perhaps blue, but looks odd).  And, he's not even wearing a belt. The photo simply screams "Here, Mr. Lewis, just put this on, we'll take the picture and be out of your hair...."

[skymaster]

Carl Sanders, who served as Governor of the State of Georgia from 1963 till 1967, was an active member of Civil Air Patrol during most of his gubernatorial term.  According to contemporary reports, he was not just an "honourary" member who supported CAP from his office, but was quite a skilled and experienced pilot who actually flew some missions for CAP. Even when not behind the controls of an aircraft, he was known as one of the most ardent political supporters of Civil Air Patrol to ever occupy the Governor's Office.

[flyboy53]

You might want to add Arnold Palmer to the list. At one time he was a major and pilot with the PA Wing.

Comedian Bob Cummings was a WW II pilot with the California Wing before his stint in the Army Air Forces and Air Force Reserve.

How about Ruth Rowland Nichols, who at one point considered Amelia Earhart's chief competition? She held most of the aviation records at the time, was rated in everything, was one of the Mercury 13 and a lieutenant colonel in the NY Wing.

[Critical AOA]

How about Ruth Rowland Nichols, who at one point considered Amelia Earhart's chief competition? She held most of the aviation records at the time, was rated in everything, was one of the Mercury 13 and a lieutenant colonel in the NY Wing.

Actually she was not one of the Mercury 13.  She did not pass the tests that the 13 did. She accomplished many great things in aviation but that was not one.

[flyboy53]

Point made.

But that also means you can add Irene Leverton and Myrtle Cagle -- the two Mercury 13 women who were CAP officers -- pilots, instructors and check pilots.

Another to add to the list -- one of my personal favorites -- CAP Lt. Col. Roscoe Turner -- the air racer helped to form the CAP in the State of Indiana during WW II.

[Critical AOA]

My cadet squadron in Indy back in the 1970s was named after Roscoe Turner.

[BuckeyeDEJ]

Arnold Palmer was a cadet. So was Freddie Prinze Jr.

And so was Lee Harvey Oswald. *sigh*

[starshippe]

.
. . lee harvey was working with j edgar trying to find and close down the cia run cuban training camps, successfully. he was found out and eliminated.

bill

[SarDragon]

OMFG! Save your watches! It's getting really deep in here.

[a2capt]

This might even Drag on..

[SarDragon]

This might even Drag on..