Massachusetts Wing Civil Air Patrol

Massachusetts Wing Civil Air Patrol

Massachusetts Wing of Civil Air Patrol
Associated branches
United States Air Force
Command staff
Commander	Col Carleton Jones, CAP
Vice Commander	Lt Col Claire Belden, CAP
Current statistics
Cadets	389
Seniors	383
Total Membership	772
Website	mawg.cap.gov
Statistics as of October 2024
v t e

The Massachusetts Wing Civil Air Patrol (abbreviated MAWG), commonly referred to as "Mass Wing", is the highest echelon of Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its headquarters is located at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts. MA Wing reports to Northeast Region CAP, which reports to CAP National Headquarters.

Emergency services

Training for all Emergency Services functions is based on the Incident Command System. The most basic qualifications require certification in the ICS-100 course available online.

Members of the wing assisted in the search for John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s plane crash site.^[1] A few Massachusetts Wing members aided with Incident Command at the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster.^[2] More recently, several Massachusetts Wing members participated as members of CAPs Geospatial Team by performing damage assessments after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

In April 2020, members of the Massachusetts Wing began assisting the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic by helping to load and unload trucks, inventorying personal protective equipment and other needed medical supplies, and assembling orders of those items for delivery to local municipalities around the state.^[3]

Aerospace Education

Aerospace Education (AE) includes a monthly aerospace education class, up to 5 Orientation Flights in powered aircraft, and 5 Orientation Flights in glider aircraft for Cadets under 18. Cadets may participate in a host of AE STEM activities such as model rocketry, flight simulation, robotics, and astronomy, to name a few. Cadets may also participate in a display competition based on the STEM principles which is judged at the annual Conference. Educators may gain access to CAP AE K-12 Curriculum and STEM Kits, by becoming an AE Member for a one-time fee of $35!

Cadet Program

In addition to being a fun and rewarding activity for youth from 12 - 18 years old who join CAP and become cadets, the Cadet Program focuses on four main areas: Leadership, Aerospace Education, Fitness and Character. Annually, the Cadet Program culminates each summer in an 8 day, cadet lead and cadet run encampment. In recent years, encampments have been held at Joint Base Cape Cod, normally in the month of August.

Massachusetts Wing has credit for 18 Spaatz-earning Cadets, who successfully completed the four phases of the Cadet Program as depicted on the Cadet Super Chart.

Squadrons

There are currently 11 local area Squadrons in the Massachusetts Wing.

Members of the Massachusetts Wing support the Massachusetts Air National Guard during an intercept training missions. The story was featured in the Smithsonian Channel documentary On the Fly: Adventures at Altitude. S1E8 - "A Game of Cat and Mouse"

• Beverly Composite Squadron MA-019
• Boston Cadet Squadron MA-002
• Bridgewater State University Squadron MA-005
• Coastal Patrol 18 Composite Squadron MA-044
• Essex County Composite Squadron MA-070
• Brigadier General Arthur J. Pierce Squadron MA-013
• Goddard Cadet Squadron MA-007
• Hanscom Composite Squadron MA-043
• Pilgrim Composite Squadron MA-071
• Westover Composite Squadron MA-015
• Worcester Cadet Squadron MA-022

Further Information such as meeting times and locations may be found on the Locations page of the Massachusetts Wing website.

References

1. "Highlights of CAP and USAF History" (PDF). Civil Air Patrol. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
2. John D. Russell (2011-05-10). "Florence's Caraway honored for gulf oil spill relief effort". scnow.com. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
3. "Local Civil Air Patrol unit assisting state against COVID-19". Patch Media. 5 April 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.

External links

• Massachusetts Wing Civil Air Patrol