For some people, soaring is a natural state.
C/Capt Colin Agor of SWR-TX-428 is one of them. In the span of 10 days in July, the springboard diver and glider pilot won AAU Boys 16 national diving championships on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards and successfully completed a checkride to earn a private pilot glider license.
Cadets from across the nation gathered at the Soaring Club of Houston on 9 July to fly gliders and learn the basics of flight. Five cadets earned solo wings, with several more students well on their way to earning their own solo wings.
The Glider Flight Academy, hosted in south Texas, was established in 2008 by Major David Ayre. The academy continues to grow in popularity and diversity. This year, nearly half of the students were female cadets. Soloing cadet Major Maryanne Yoakum is a returning student from Mildenhall Cadet Squadron and resides in Togo, West Africa. “Civil Air Patrol has challenged me in ways I wasn’t able to find in my life before,” Yoakum stated, “I find that the community around aviation, especially gliding, is one that constantly challenges me.”
On Saturday, February 19, cadets and senior members from Civil Air Patrol (CAP) squadrons met for a large-scale training event at the San Marcos airport. Over 60 cadets and seniors from squadrons in south-central Texas flew 19 air sorties and 3 ground sorties and practiced search and rescue (SAREX) techniques such as searching for simulated downed aircraft and evaluating simulated flood and hurricane damage.
Group V of the Texas Wing, Civil Air Patrol, is made up of nine squadrons from San Marcos, Austin, San Antonio, Randolph AFB, Georgetown, Temple, and Kerrville and all squadrons participated in the SAREX. Five CAP airplanes participated in the air sorties. The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) donated meeting space for a air command center in their historic hangar at the San Marcos Airport to launch the air sorties. The CAP building for the San Marcos squadron served as command and communications center for the ground teams. Training in search techniques, air-to-ground communications, and safety were provided.
Group V Commander Lt. Col. Don Jones said of the event, “It is important that we simulate real-world events such as hurricanes and flooding, in addition to downed aircraft in our training. These are missions that CAP has been called on to perform in the past. For this event, we mixed up crews from different squadrons to make sure all our teams can work together.”
Lt. Col. Rich Ferguson was presented with the Field Grade Officer of the Year award and he was also recognized for 50 years of Civil Air Patrol (CAP) volunteer service at an end-of-year ceremony for the CAP David Lee "Tex" Hill Composite Squadron of San Marcos, Texas. Lt. Col. Ferguson joined CAP at the age of 14. Growing up, his father was Commandant of Cadets at the squadron in Tulare, California, then Squadron 83 Commander in San Diego, California, and then Group 3 Commander, California Wing. At Rich’s first encampment in 1963, he was awarded the Outstanding Male Cadet Noncommissioned Officer trophy. At his second encampment in 1965, he served as the Cadet Wing Adjutant, with rank of Cadet Lt. Col. Rich was the Squadron Cadet Commander for many years, earning the Ira Eaker Award. He also received a CAP sponsored scholarship that allowed him to obtain his solo pilot rating.
When Rich turned 21, he let his CAP membership lapse as he turned his attention to attending AFROTC at San Diego State University to become an Air Force pilot. Rich resumed his membership in CAP as a senior member in October 1976, while assigned as a C-5 instructor/evaluator pilot at Travis AFB, California.
Rich relocated to the CAP Kelly Composite Squadron, Texas Wing, in San Antonio in 1985 when he transferred to Kelly AFB where he served as a C-5 evaluator pilot and Director of Operations at squadron and Wing levels. In 2001, Rich retired from the Air Force Reserve and the 433rd Airlift Wing as Operations Group Commander with the rank of Colonel. In 2008, he transferred to the CAP David Lee "Tex" Hill Composite Squadron in San Marcos. He became the Deputy Commander for Cadets, helping in many of the cadet training programs and contributed significantly to cadet and senior member training in emergency services, among other duties. He now serves also as Administrative and Personnel Officer for the San Marcos squadron and also for Texas Wing, Group V.
The San Marcos squadron commander, Capt. Mauricio Urquiola said, "Lt. Col. Ferguson is the welcome face for all parents, soon to be cadets, and senior volunteers at our squadron and has been a pillar for our squadron in the past decade. His dedication and unconditional support for all activities, and especially for the cadet program, has made him a role model for all of us in the squadron."
Four cadets from the David Lee “Tex” Hill squadron (TX-435) in San Marcos performed Color Guard duties at the Central Texas Wing of the Commemorative Air Force Hangar Dance on Saturday evening, November 13, 2021. Cadets C/MSgt Ethan Harrison, C/CMSgt Tanner Lewis, C/SrA Gabriel Muldrow and C/A1C Martin Nguyen performed the Color Guard duties presenting the flag at the opening of the event.
The Central Texas Wing of the Commemorative Air Force is located in the only WWII aircraft hangar left standing on the old Edward Gary Army Training Base that was in operation during WWII. The airplanes were pulled out of the hangar to make room for the dance inside but were available on static display for the many visitors attending the evening’s event. The annual Hangar Dance is a fundraiser to keep the WWII airplanes in the air. It also shows people a glimpse of what it was like in 1942.
Photographs by 2nd Lt. Tom Roach
CAP Lt. Col. Dave Badal passed away on October 19, 2021 at the age of 84. Lt. Col. Badel joined the David Lee “Tex” Hill squadron (TX-435) in San Marcos in 1997 and held many positions such as Mission Check Pilot, Cadet Orientation Pilot, Maintenance Officer, and Counter Drug Officer. He was the Squadron Commander from 2000 to 2008 and he was also the Group VIII Deputy Commander for two years. Dave was also the driving force responsible for obtaining our current squadron building and even having an airplane to fly. Dave received the Disaster Relief Ribbon with Device for his participation in the Blanco River Flooding and Hurricane Harvey.
Dave was a Project Engineer at Lockheed and spent almost 30 years with Lockheed. At age 82 he became a substitute teacher and later developed a solar course for students at Wimberley High School.
Dave was an accomplished pilot and earned a Private Pilot rating and later added Instrument privileges to his license. Not satisfied with only flying airplanes, Dave obtained his Ground Instructor privileges with Advanced Instrument, and was an accomplished FAA mechanic with inspection authority (IA). He used his skills as a pilot/mechanic to totally restore a 1943 Army Piper L4. In 2018, he earned the prestige Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award from the FAA. This award has been issued to recognize local pilots who have exhibited professionalism, skill, and aviation expertise for at least 50 years as active pilots.
Lt. Col. Badel’s enthusiasm for Civil Air Patrol, learning, and aviation will be missed by all that were fortunate enough to have known him.
By Lt. Col. Mike Duc
Five cadets participated on Saturday Oct 23 in Round 1 of CyberPatriot Competition held by the Air Force Association, the first of three rounds of competition. Two teams of cadets, one middle school and one high school, met the previous week at a training/practice session. The cadets involved in the Round 1 competition were: C/A1C Nguyen, C/SrA Seidel,
C/SSgt Pennington, C/Amn Clark, and C/A1C Gabe Muldrow. Cadet Muldrow showed great perseverance as he was the only participant on the high school team this weekend. Senior Member Pennington was Coach and 1st Lt. Aylstock and 1st Lt. Murphy were Mentors for the two teams.
CyberPatriot is the National Youth Cyber Education Program created by the Air Force Association to inspire K-12 students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future. The cadets were given a virtual copy of a Windows PC and they had to perform various tasks to make sure the PC was secure. These tasks included verifying the correct users were authorized to log on to the machine, that password policies were in effect, that all only the authorized software had been installed and various other tasks that would make the system secure.
This was the first of three rounds of competition for the cadets. The following two rounds take place on 13 Nov and 11 Dec. The competing cadets will receive a CyberPatriot t-shirt and a challenge coin and loads of experience on making computers safe.
Cadets from the David Lee "Tex" Hill Composite Squadron TX-435 in San Marcos, Texas were introduced to some significant airplane history when the Commemorative Air Force B-29 “Fifi” and B-24 “Diamond Lil” visited the San Marcos Airport over the weekend of Oct 1-3 as part of the Air Power History Tour. While almost 4,000 B-29’s were built between 1942 and 1945, there are only two flying examples of this historic aircraft.
Seven TX435 Cadets (C/2Lt Jeremiah Wood, C/CMS Tanner Lewis, C/MSgt Ethan Harrison, C/SrA Andrew Bailey, C/A1C Gabriel Muldrow, C/A1C Martin Nguyen, C/Amn Jack Evans), and two Senior Members (Lt Col Rich Ferguson and 2nd Lt Tom Roach) assisted the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Central Texas Wing at San Marcos Regional Airport, in parking autos for the Air Power History Tour. The “Tour” included all the aircraft assigned at the CAF Centex Wing taking guests on flights over the area in their T-6 Texan, T-28 Trojan, T-34 Mentor, UA3 (Cessna 310), Iks’s Air Force One (Aero Commander), BT-13, and C-47, “That's All Brother”. Flying in from Ft Worth TX, were the B-24 “Diamond Lil” and B-29 “FiFi” also provided guest flights. Static displays of other Centex Wing aircraft and vehicles such as the B-25 Mitchell, C-45, helicopter, mock-up cockpits, and the Museum, also provided plenty of things to see and do.
Photos by Lt Col Rich Ferguson, 2nd Lt Tom Roach and C/2Lt Jeremiah Wood.
CAF Pilot Col W. A. Calley with cadets C/2Lt Jeremiah Wood and C/A1C Martin Nguyen in front of the B-29 “Fifi”.
Cadet Chief Master Sergeant Andrew Wilson of the David Lee "Tex" Hill Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Composite Squadron in San Marcos, Texas passed a checkride and received his Private Pilot’s certificate at the San Marcos airport on Sunday, July 4, 2021. Cadet Wilson’s flight training was paid for by the CAP Wings program. The program provides funded training to selected Civil Air Patrol cadets to earn their Private Pilot Certificate in an Airplane (Single Engine Land-ASEL or otherwise known as powered), Glider, or Lighter-than-air (Balloon) categories and classes. The Air Force has allocated CAP funds for CAP cadet flight training with the goal of fulfilling its mission of developing tomorrow’s aerospace leaders.
C/CMSgt Wilson was exposed to general aviation through the CAP Orientation Ride program that provides introductory rides in a CAP airplane and lets the cadet handle the controls. Cadet Wilson earned over 60 flight hours before taking his practical test. His primary CAP flight instructor, Capt. Mauricio Urquiola said, “It took many hours of study time, planning flight lessons around the summer weather and most of all, perseverance for Cadet Wilson to accomplish this goal.” Cadet Wilson completed his training through Black Hound Aviation flight school at the San Marcos, TX airport.
Cadets and senior members set up a recruiting table at the San Marcos Go Wheels Up airshow at the San Marcos airport on Saturday, May 28, 2021. The booth was originally inside the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) hanger but it was decided to move it outside to see if the location could catch more traffic. The cadets also went into the crowd to find kids that might be interested in CAP. The highlights of the airshow included two MIG-17s, an F-16 exhibition and a F-16 and P-51 "Heritage Flight".
Senior members participating were: Lt. Col. Ferguson, Capt. Urquiola, 1st Lt Aylstock, and 2nd Lts Brewer and Roach.
Cadets participating were Brewer, Debord, Janicki, Martinez, G. Muldrow, M. Muldrow, Q. Nash, Roberts, Silva, Rhodes, Seidel, and Wood.
