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ken1967
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Here's one you don't see that often:

 

capobs.jpg

 

But it's by Green Inc, NOT Robbins!

 

I saw that identified elsewhere as an observers badge. Yesterday I found a Green Inc. sterling CAP badge at a local antique store. It's only 1.25 inches long. It's a pinback and is marked GREEN STERLING. These photos are not too good - I just placed it on my scanner:

 

capfront.jpg

capback.jpg

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I saw that identified elsewhere as an observers badge. Yesterday I found a Green Inc. sterling CAP badge at a local antique store. It's only 1.25 inches long. It's a pinback and is marked GREEN STERLING. These photos are not too good - I just placed it on my scanner:

 

post-214-1172779270.jpg

post-214-1172779285.jpg

It's NOT an Observers badge. It was intended for wear on civilian clothes as a lapel pin to indicate CAP membership. There were a couple of versions of this over the years before they went to wearing the CAP crest for the same purpose.

That's a nice example you have there. thumbsup.gif

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It's NOT an Observers badge. It was intended for wear on civilian clothes as a lapel pin to indicate CAP membership. There were a couple of versions of this over the years before they went to wearing the CAP crest for the same purpose.

That's a nice example you have there. thumbsup.gif

 

The half wings were a common thing for non-pilot flight crew in military organizations and even airlines. In the CAP that would mainly have been mission observers, although that small half-wing pin probaby would have been for civilian clothing wear. At some point it seems that most flying organizations decided the half-wing looked odd and went to full wings for all flight crew.

 

Here's how the US Army Aviation Section observer wing of 1917 looked:

 

WWIObBadge.gif

observer.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
The half wings were a common thing for non-pilot flight crew in military organizations and even airlines. In the CAP that would mainly have been mission observers, although that small half-wing pin probaby would have been for civilian clothing wear. At some point it seems that most flying organizations decided the half-wing looked odd and went to full wings for all flight crew.

 

Here's how the US Army Aviation Section observer wing of 1917 looked:

 

WWIObBadge.gif

The Observes half-wing was the standard aeronautical rating badge for observers. CAP Observers did not get a full wing until 1949. So, no the half wing wasn't ment for wear on civilian clothes.

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  • 9 months later...

Finally took some better photos of that Green Jewelry sterling CAP wings badge:

 

capwings0213.jpg

 

capwings0213back.jpg

 

I also found a couple of small CAP buttons attached to each other (and I photographed them next to the small wings to show their size).

 

capbuttons0213.jpg

 

cap0213.jpg

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  • 4 months later...
notinfringed

Hello all. I just picked up a few CAP items, and I had a few questions. I found this hat at an antique shop for $18. It was marked "vintage airline hat". I had to laugh a little bit. The next day, I went to a swap meet, and bought this badge for $5. I was wondering, Is this the correct badge for this cap? I am thinking not, but I could not find any pictures on line except for the WWII vintage uniforms.

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Thanks for any help

Levi

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That is the Senior Service Cap Device and here is a photo of one on a CAP officer's cap:

 

Goldman.gif

 

The National Museum of the Civil Air Patrol has a nice website at http://www.caphistory.org/ but I haven't found any uniform info there. CAP uniforms have changed every bit as much if not even more than the US Air Force uniforms have over the decades so it's hard to keep track of what was used when.

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I might as well add this. This is my personal CAP uniform I wore in 1987, the last full year of membership. I joined in 1982 and had a ball. I recieved my Spaatz award and became a cadet Colonel in 1987 ("Topping out" of the cadet program). FYI, note the Solo wings and the Communications Badge on the pocket. The ribbons on the uniform were newer ribbons at the time, being changed from picture ribbons about 1985 or so. See the next posting for those. I prefered the earlier ones, believe it or not.

 

CAP was a great outlet for my military need. I met my wife there and was able to get through USAF basic training in only 2 weeks because of it. Great stuff.

 

-Ski

post-3043-1214797309.jpg

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Here is a set of plastic ribbon for the cadet program, the design used up to about 1985. Plastic ribbons themselves were phased out about 1981 or so.

 

-Ski

post-3043-1214797460.jpg

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Here is a set of plastic ribbon for the cadet program, the design used up to about 1985. Plastic ribbons themselves were phased out about 1981 or so.

 

-Ski

These old design Cadet ribbons were often called "Cap'n. Crunch Ribbons" ( and a few other names not suitable for a "G" rated forum). You gotta admit they were distinctive!

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Here is a close-up of an example of the Anti-Submarine ribbon. It was issued post-war to replace the cuff patch. I found this one at the local flea market for $10 several years ago. Not cheap, but I couldn't pass it up.

 

-Ski

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post-3043-1214910521.jpg

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Here is the small sized CAP Hound dog patch. I'm not sure what time period these were worn, however, on the CAP website there's a photo of a guy wearing one on his left chest, probably from the early 60's. I think there is a larger one made of the patch as well.

 

-Ski

post-3043-1215093304.jpg

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Here was my CAP Fatigue shirt ca. 1987. The patch on the pocket was my squadron patch of the Milwaukee Emergency Services Squadron. That squadron was just about as professional as you can get. Just about all senior members were paramedics, firefighters, cops and all were former cadets. We spent hours each Saturday practicing everything you could imagine and maintianing our equipment, which consisted of 4 aircraft, 3 ex-USAF crew cab pick-ups and a dodge ambulance. I loved getting called 2 AM in the morning for a mission to look for a missing aircraft. Pretty heady stuff for a teenager. :)

 

-Ski

 

p.s. And of course, NO, I can't fit in anymore and haven't been able to for quite some time thank you. ;)

post-3043-1215094422.jpg

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Here is the small sized CAP Hound dog patch. I'm not sure what time period these were worn, however, on the CAP website there's a photo of a guy wearing one on his left chest, probably from the early 60's. I think there is a larger one made of the patch as well.

 

-Ski

Ski,

These are the old "Pluto" Emergency Services patches. Originally used in the early 1960's, they have recentty re-appeared again and are being used. In addition to the sample you have shown, there is one this size with a black border. The big ones measure about 6" in diameter and have lettering on them that says "Civil Air Patrol Emergency Services". There are several minor variations of the big patch as well.

I wore one of the old big size Pluto patches on my leather flight jacket back when I was active in the 80's and early 90's. Since I retired from CAP in 1995, I don't know the particulars on the re-use of this old design except that I've been told it was brought back to use for those CAP members who were qualified to work in the emergency service end of CAP.

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Bob Hudson
I loved getting called 2 AM in the morning for a mission to look for a missing aircraft. Pretty heady stuff for a teenager. :)

 

As a 14-year-old I was a base station radio operator for a Civil Air Patrol Squadron in south San Diego County, but I never got called at 2AM - however it was always interesting working the radio shack during search and rescues in the early 60's. We had member's aircraft, including four T-6's, the squadron's Korean War surplus Aeronca L-16, and a surplus jeep outfitted with a mobile short wave radio that took up most of the back of the jeep (we were still using WWII era radios with tubes and massive power requirements. I have no photos from those days and even the airport we operated from is no longer around, but I found a photo online showing it, along with our four Quonset huts at the top of the photo. The hut on the left was the radio room, one was for cadets meetings and training, one probably had offices, etc. and I suspect there was probably one hut for the senior members that was off-limits to cadets. The most interesting member of the squadron had to be Hans Busch who had been an ME-262 pilot in WWII - that's right he flew for the Luftwaffe! I found an article about him online and it even mentions his CAP service: http://tinyurl.com/4d89u2 . Most of our other senior members had been pilots in the military in WWII, but Hans was the only one who ever told war stories.

 

ntcityair.jpg

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Thanks for the clarification Lee. I forgot about the Pluto name. I never saw these being worn while I was in. Funny how Pluto made a return, hehehe....

 

-Ski

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As a 14-year-old I was a base station radio operator for a Civil Air Patrol Squadron in south San Diego County, but I never got called at 2AM - however it was always interesting working the radio shack during search and rescues in the early 60's. We had member's aircraft, including four T-6's, the squadron's Korean War surplus Aeronca L-16, and a surplus jeep outfitted with a mobile short wave radio that took up most of the back of the jeep (we were still using WWII era radios with tubes and massive power requirements. I have no photos from those days and even the airport we operated from is no longer around, but I found a photo online showing it, along with our four Quonset huts at the top of the photo. The hut on the left was the radio room, one was for cadets meetings and training, one probably had offices, etc. and I suspect there was probably one hut for the senior members that was off-limits to cadets. The most interesting member of the squadron had to be Hans Busch who had been an ME-262 pilot in WWII - that's right he flew for the Luftwaffe! I found an article about him online and it even mentions his CAP service: http://tinyurl.com/4d89u2 . Most of our other senior members had been pilots in the military in WWII, but Hans was the only one who ever told war stories.

 

post-214-1215098235.jpg

 

Thanks for sharing your story. Amazing to have a member like that in the unit!! I also had a base station at my house. The antenna was strapped to a post on my back upper porch. I checked in 3 times a week and recorded messages from the Wing and passed them onto the squadron. Great geek memories, hehehe....

 

Things changed quite a bit since then. From what I gather, they no longer allow teenagers younger than 17 to go out on land searches. I completely understand this decision. You can find the tragic results of an accident and that is just too much for some 14 year old.

 

-Ski

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Bob Hudson
Thanks for sharing your story. Amazing to have a member like that in the unit!! I also had a base station at my house. The antenna was strapped to a post on my back upper porch. I checked in 3 times a week and recorded messages from the Wing and passed them onto the squadron. Great geek memories, hehehe....

 

Things changed quite a bit since then. From what I gather, they no longer allow teenagers younger than 17 to go out on land searches. I completely understand this decision. You can find the tragic results of an accident and that is just too much for some 14 year old.

 

-Ski

 

I don't recall cadets going out on ground searches either, but working in the radio shack was a better job than what most other cadets had during search and rescue missions (I think they cleaned airplanes and kept the coffee going for flight crews).

 

Just to give you an idea of how much things have changed - our main transmitter was a BC-610, weighing in at over 400 pounds. Our receiver probably weighed half that. The radios in the jeep were massive also, and used one of those reallllly long whip antennas that had to be bent over and tied down when traveling on the highway.

 

Here's the front and back of a big BC-610:

 

bc610.jpg

 

bc610back.jpg

 

We also of course had VHF aviation band radios, but the HF (High Frequency operating in the shortwave bands) radios got a lot of use for communications between different squadrons and wings.

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Just wanted to post some CAP ribbons acquired about 35 years ago when I first started collecting military items. Bought a batch of military ribbons from an Army Surplus store going out of business. Agreed to pay ten cents each and bought the lot. When the count reached 2600 ribbons, I knew I was in trouble. To soften the blow of the cost, the owner added all of his CAP ribbons at no cost. Have identified--somewhat--most of the ribbons. Should have a book somewhere on these ribbons, but cannot find or remember how I identified the ribbons and date of use. Most of these ribbons date from the 1950s to the 1960s. Think I bought them in 1969. Do not believe any of these ribbons are currently used by the Civil Air Patrol.

 

post-1633-1215104359.jpg

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Illustration two has some search ribbons. Had them identified at one time, but not written down. Know from an earlier post that one is for Submarine search. Think one with cactus is for Desert search; and the one with a foot is for Messenger service. Hope someone has a proper ID for these ribbons. The right half of the photo show the back side of the ribbons with old style mounting. The bottom right ribbon is added because I have some, but lost the identification.

post-1633-1215105281.jpg

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Thanks for sharing the photos, frederick, although I wouldn't suppose you would know what the "Girl Exchange" program was all about? Then again, that was that free love hippie era..... laughing1.gif

 

Your ribbon collection is pretty complete, well done! I want to say that the red ribbon with the multiple props on it might be the International Cadet Exchange Program, but don't quote me on it....

 

-Ski

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Teamske,

 

The multi-prop ribbon sounds correct as International Cadet Exchange. Think I read somewhere that the Girl Exchange was a similar program for female Cadets. How they rated a separate ribbon I don't know. Assume there must have been few females in the CAP in the early days.

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Thanks for sharing the photos, frederick, although I wouldn't suppose you would know what the "Girl Exchange" program was all about? Then again, that was that free love hippie era..... laughing1.gif

 

Your ribbon collection is pretty complete, well done! I want to say that the red ribbon with the multiple props on it might be the International Cadet Exchange Program, but don't quote me on it....

 

-Ski

The red with the props is the old design for International Air Cadet Exchange. The current one is just a plain red ribbon. As to the Girls Exchange ribbon, best I remember was that originally the girl cadets couldn't go overseas like the boys could, so they had inter-regional exchanges just for the girls. They eventually changed that so girl cadets could go on IACE with the boys if they were assigned a female senior member to chaperone them.

By the way, on any CAP ribbon with a 3 bladed prop, it is always positioned so that one prop blade is pointed directly up.

Many of those old awards stil exist, but have the newer ribbons instead of the original designs. These started to change over in the early 1980's to the new style ribbons.

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  • 2 months later...

Sorry, I'm a little late finding this place...

 

But I'm the webmaster of the CAP Patches website that Ken mentioned on Page 1 of this thread: http://www.incountry.us/cappatches/

And I certainly would like to try to help anyone here out when I can.

 

However I am just the grasshopper to my master, Lee Ragan. He's the man that litterally "wrote the book" on CAP insignia. You might have come across a copy of his 1986 Collectors Catalog, now going for about $20 on eBay! Anyway, I'll try to remember to check this website out periodically - or certainly stop by the site, look around, and e-mail me if you need anything!

 

Thanks for preserving our history!

 

-Ace

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