0oASTAL PATROL BASI] -tl

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Civit Air Patro1 Wor1d liar II Panama City, FIa.

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CIVIL AIR PATROL Auxiliary United States Air Force

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ct 1. ,
:

COL. LESTER E' HOPPER, C.A.P. National Historian

3530 Mimosa Louisiana orf

Court

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Home: (504) 394-3530

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Preface ..... -. -.page , History of Coastal Patrol Base .!i 14 .. . . .. +-lO

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Appendix 1 (Membership WW II) ..... ....... Appendix 2 (Membershlp Jan. L9?9) .,......

Illustrations: Panama City Squad.ron Wh/ II ... . Coastal Patrol Base # L4, 1947 Operations Build.ing ......-....:. -... Crash of Cessna in which Lt. Gerald. Owen and Lt. George Ferner died.
prototype 1OO Ib. bomb ... Fairchild 24, Lt. Yiilliam Fowler and unid.entified pilot . o, . . , .. ..... : .. Fairchild, 24, Lt. Bernard Cohen and . unid.entifi,ed. pilot . .. ...... -.. Stinson SR 5, Lt. Franklin B. lrietzel ' and. Lt. Ed Hahn ..... ....... .i ..., Cessna Airmaster on l4agno1la Point Beach after forced land.ing of , ' ;, tt. IrI. Fow1er and Lt. Stanley
Cessna and.

II-I2_ L,
14-15
15 L?
1B

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22

Rgavgr ............o...oo.......
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PR,h]I'ACE

InthecorrrSeofdoingresearchvlorkJ.ortheIlayCounty' Hi,storical society, the writer found a reference to the lanarna city-based civil Air patrol squadron of ,,lor1d. ilar rr.. T'earnin* that few people in panama city tod;ry are ab/are of theimportantworkdonebythissquadron,vltrichwaSknownas coAsrAr pATRoL tsAsli # t+ it was fert that the sr:b ject shoul. | be written up as an historical record. Hor.rever, finding the 10ca1 squadron record.s has proved- to be a frustrating experience. Nationar Headquarters of the civil Air patrol at Maxwell A1abaua,r+rotethatthere'dere,'nohistorica1recordsatthis{ieldr.. head'quarters of the panama city unit,,. subsequent investigation has shown that officar records do not exist. Therefore, writerhashad.tore1yheavi1yonnewspaperrecord'softhe. the tirne and. on the memories of a number of men and women whg were special thanks must go to lrir. and r.,rs. .,,riIliam Fowrer and' to Mr- and. Mrs. John Reaver for . information and personal records and photograpbs; to Mrs. Elizabeth Ackerman who so tediously perused. the nicrofir-m records of the News Herald. f or 1942 and 1!4]; to Miss Julie lia*ison and to captain Ruby Lee for .the loan of civil Air patrol material and for na,eg and. add.resses of possibre sources of information. This history is as comprete as the writer can make it but it is regretted' tbat the names of all squadron members cannot be found' and. the particular detailed statistics for the squad.ron were not obtainabl_e.
jlarbara G. Green January tg?g

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GULl,' S.Ui, r,.ltL,tl,1'I bil L:Ctr\Sl|/rL }AI,ROL lj;',ij-uj il

Civil Air patrol 'v/or1d l.lar TT

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theCivi1AirPatro1caIDeintobeing,itsactua1birthd,ay being December 1, 1941 when Mr. La Guardia signed the formal 'order for its creation. .lvith the ad.vent of ?ear1 Harbour on December/,1941,theCivi1AirPatro1!/aSoffand.running. . All the armed forces vrere then short of men and material and it may be said. that the civil Air t.atrol fiIIed i-n where ever there was a need.. rts light planes flew patr:ols along . the coasts of the United States or assisted in se;rrch and. rescue operationsonIand'oroverthesea.Itcarried'fr.eightand'
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Fiore11aLaGuard.iaasDirectorofthenew}ycreatedoiri"" of civiL Defense and it was to him that the proponents of a.. nationar civir air patror turned for assistance. out ot-til, contact, with the cooperati-on of the office of civir Defense, the United. States Air Force, and. varj-ous aviation authorities

worsening international situation and the possibility that the uniteQ. states would. i.n time no doubt become embroiled. . : in the European triar. rn the event that the united. states did beeotre a belrigerent, it was fert that c.ivilian avia_ tion might either suffer radicarly or, on the other hand., it .courd pI ay an effeetive and highly useful role i-n the conflict. und.er the lead.ership of Mr. GiIl Robb v/irson and with the approval of Governor Ed.ison of I'Iew Jersey, the New Jersey civil Air Defense service was organized.. i{ith the encouragement of the Air Force and General Hap Arnotd and. of tbe civil Aeronautics Authority, organizations such as that ,,' of New Jersey began to spring up in state after state. rn May of 1941, president Roosevelt appointed New york Mayor . . . l
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For the information of those who know little about the civi] Air patrol, its beginnings, activities and. purpo="r, it may be well to give some background material. - orr"i.rg the years l9)B to r94r private aviation enthusiasts throughout, tbe, united. states became increasingly concerned about the

passengers; trained pilots either for Lhe civil riir. r:atrol itself or prepared them for later inclusion in the arrned forces- CAP patrolled the border betvlecn ttre Ilnited States and Mexico wattching for illegal activit,v or tire crossing.of saboteurs. During its coastar patro) s ,r,.n requected it convoyed ships, reported vessels in disLrcssr spobted lifeboats and summoned he1p, located enerny subrlarrines and 1ater, when the planes !,,ere armecl, actually bombed ,nd sank tvro submari.nes with severar other probables. Hr..rvin6 proved itserf to be of inesti-mable value in April , 194), the civil Air patror was removed from the Office of Civilian .l)efense and became an auxiliary of the Army Air Force. Today the civil .Air patrol is under Headquarters command., iJnited iltates Air Force. The members of the civil Ai.r patrol ,,lcre of alr ages and both sexes and lrere representative of al1 prol'essions. pilots. furnished their own pranes, for which the.y received a mireage_ rental allowance, the pilots themselves received a per diem of only $8.O0 per day with ground. personnel receiving S5.Oo. Some of the planes were as smaIl as 9o horsepor.rer i-]tinson voyagers and few were large enough to carry rrore than a pilot and an observer- By June l9a1 the totar membershi-p of ttre civil Air Patror was over ?rrooo. rn the coastal patrols alone there had been 26 flyers kil1ed, ranging in age from ]9 to 5o, and 90 of the planes had. been lost. Due to the fact that rearl Harbor found the llavy woefully
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shortofpatro1craftandtheAirtr.orcer.lj-tbfewp1anesto spare for the same purpose, it will be obvjorls that for a while at }east r the coastal patrol functions of the Civj ] Air patrol were of the greatest importance. [h.e Gulf of p]exico was .designatedtheGuIfSeaFrontierand'inJuneotl)a2rrCivi}Air I'atrol base was begun in panama city,nd bras calted coastal Patro1 Base # 14. Panama city and sarasoLa were the only Gurf bases on Florida I s west coast and that there \.,as an urgent need for
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the writer is personally familiar vrith individuals who sab, a number of shi,ps torpedoed. in the Gulf and the writer,s motbr waa instrur,ental in the capture of several saboteurs who vrere landed from a submarine on a lonely stretch of key beach south of Sarasota. As the area around- Panarna city had an insufficient of people quarified' to serve as pilots and observers of number a cl"ir Air Patror squadron, mo.st of the men vrho formed the origirr.l . Panama city group were sent down from ohio beginning in June 1942.. Tbey came from cincinnati, corumbus, versailles, spring_ field and' various other cities mostly from southern obio. Howevert a number of men and v/omen vrho lived in panama city and its viclnitv joined. the squad,ron and served 4rr ;;";t;;-;";;] vv' i; Y*LJL' 2 cIt]-es.-Thefirstcommandingofficerv,asI,1ajorRobertDod.ge ^^. ".
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them is demonstrated by the fact that in i{ay, June and July of 1942, 78 ships wlth a Bross tonna6e ot 1??,068 had been sunk by submarines in the Gulf of l,4exi-co.l fn addition with the proposed construction in panama city of a major shi.pyard, the !'/ai-nwright, patrol of this stretch' of shore assumed. even greater importance. The reader m'ust be familiar with the story of the sinking of the EMprRr- I'rIuA off Apatachicola and

fromRehobethBeach,De1aware.[hesquad.ronwasbased.onl-and. contiguous to and srightly south of the present Fannin Fiel-d - Therb was one hangar on1y, the runways v/ere of grass or cind.ers, and there was no permanently placed lighting on ._ the field necessitating the use of frare pots at the rare when a night }and.ing uras necessary. For some nonths, ,. fimes .d.uetothe1ackofbarracks,manyoftheresid.entn""'o,,,",
moved

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into the tent

encampment

of the r66th rnfantry at the

At Lynn Haven near where the Bob Jones corlege had once stood'r there was an abandoned. ccc camp. Despe,ately i.n need, of operating build.ings and. bamacks, the souadron obtained. 'r-' see sanuer Eriot l,lorisonrs rrAtlantic kJar, voI. ,I 2- see Append'ix 1 for squad,ron membership list.
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to the shore patrol. Alti:ough J.or some ";;; ;;:".il:",::'::1' : months the patro1swerenotarmed.,thesquad'ronhopedthatin,i,..in,, wourd be' The outline of a submarine a smal, islet in st. Andrew Bay just was made on Goose rslandr,. off the airport and. the rnen-practiced. with smoke and. flour bombs. nventually one hund'red pound. bombs one' to a prane, were obtained. r lfhire. stil1 rvithout rneans to attack a submarine them_ selves, the sguadron was $iven credi-t for sighting one. An offshore patrol spotted a subrnarine on the surface in sector, ,,y, about ten -miles out. fyndalr Air Fo*ce the sighting but at the time no pranes Base was notified. of vrere attaek so th.e Navy air station at pensacola available for the was caIle<i._ A PBY was dispatched. and the submarine.was t".;;; samuel Eliot Morison says thai ""u^"""u.^ one of the orra"*"rru:-ou advantages of the civir Air patroi was its tape' "rf the Navy wanted anything ir6m freedom from red b100. plasma to a .bomb sight to be frown anyivhere in a hu*yr op a message d.e_ livered to a ship at sea, the civil Air l.atrol was always
slgned'
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permission to move the buildings able to bo*ow hearrv equipment to the ai::port site and were from rvrroui i;;-r;;; Base to do so. A one_story,tower, vras added to the roof of one of the former ba*acks and this building became .perations Head.quar_ ters' rhis building was equipped with a two-vray radio.r 3n anemometer and instrurnents inclicating temperature and humid.ity. Regular weather forecasts lrere obtained from Tyndarl AFBr. Major Dodge, the first commanding r permit the use of any planes possessinplcfficer, would not less than 12! horsepower' some of 'the types used were r.airchild 24, s, o";;;;=Fairchirds, cessnas, stinsons SMSA and sR anri a Buehl. [here u'ere two flight lines or shifts and in winter ;a;;;'';;tro1s a from dawn to dusk, and four parrols ,J- D in LII :,i:,::"t.f;ln:patrol sector covered vras summer- [he l:":" from st. George rsland. to choctowatchee Bay and up to sixty miles out at the sector !ill"l;_nn]".f1::":_:":: :-r,.ru used in the over water parrols,

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to thein civiLian status, the various At the same tlme, owing difficurties in obtaining equipment, squadrons had enormoug parts and replacements, 'as well as gasoli-ne and, in many cases4 the men used tlieir own personal funds for material they could not have obtained. other_ wrse- The nen often built the buildings used. o"
add equipment improvising whenever 'a squad'ron member, chaney vance, necessary. At panama city, invented. a bomb sight ana irre men buift it and installed it in : ' rt'wourd. be pleasant indeed. the planes. to coastal patrol Base # t+ suffered. be "ure to report that no not the.cgse and six men gave their fatalities, but sucb. was lives in this volunteer v"^e

Ready'to take off ,' and its planes frequently flew in .wed,ther which kept military alrcraft grounded.

maintain"d''tt,"runwaysandofcourserepaired!heirownp1anee ""p.:.red. them,

seri'ice to their country.

on october

]o, Lg+z, after taking off in in coLlision o.."" West Bay. f,t. Lester fog, two planes E. plilkey, pilot fromSand.usky,ohioand'hisco-pi1otandobserver,Lt.Char1es W. And^rervs.of Springfield, Ohio r,i,ere in one collided with another containing Lr. of the planes carl Clark and. trt . ::::t Arthur Greene- Milkev and Andrews v uore ki1]ed.. ""."i"i ,;;; ;;;';.;';;" ---B , on January 5 , r94j 'over tbe Gulft one planeduring a routine patrol of two planes was seen suridenly to dlve into the as tbe eecon. planers occupants watched.. 'rater Lt. oi"r"-r. vaughn of Garionr.obio and his co-pi1ot Lt. curtis E. Brack of oLmstead,. Farrs, ohio were in the first plane an. no bod.ies or vreckage were sighted. oa April 4, tgil a plane containing Lt. Gerald. owen froo cotumbus, ohio an. Lt- Georse Ferner or rurs;,-;;;;;oJ", havins just taken off for patrol, in dod.ging another p,ane, sta11ed. arr{ crashed. onto the fieId,. fhe men were kirled but miraeu_ lously the IO0 pound boinb with wtr:-crr ;;;-r;;;;=;;";;;;;";;. r-srrs lY'aD dr,
Here
not exp,od,e.

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get it back to the fieId. ' By .9ec: r9+r, the s.ubmarine menace was well under control by'the regular armed forces. Therefore coa.stal ,;;;;; Base /l L4 at Panarna city was closed down and .many of its uembers lrere transferred to California. The writer has tried in every way possible to obtain a breakd.own in the overarr statistics of the civil Air patrol coastar patrols so as to include i-n ttiis paper those spegifically applying to the,panama city squadron, but has been unabLe to do so. Ilowever, those performance reeord.s applying .to the entire organization wirl give the reader a good. idea of the invaruabre work done. by t.hese men and the reasons why it seemed. imperative to record. the story of coastar patrol -" Base /l 14 as part of our r.ocar history. The.folrowing is a direct quote from today.s rnanuaL of the civil Air patror. "The coastar patrol had started with three bases and. ': w&s operating from 21 at.tbe c10se of its mi_ssions. rt had. reported. r71 submarines sighted, had sunk two, and. had. dropped. a total of 87 bombs and. depth chargles upon 5? subs__vrith severar other tprobables.r rt had frown 86rr)8, missions .over coasta] waters for a totar of 24416oo hours-=vrhich approximates 24 mil.lion milesl The patrol sumrnoned help for 91 ships in distress and for i57 survivors of subrnarine attacks. rt sighted and reported 1? floatlng mj-nes, and at the request of the Narry, it flew 516& special convoy missions,,.

tr'owler and co-piIot Lt. stanley Reaver had a happier ending. As they were coming in from a patrol a I'og drifted. over the Bay and' lt. Fowler was forced to land on the beach at i"lagnolia Point' At that time, the area between the point and rhomas Drive was beavily woo.ded and Lt. Fowlex, was forced to hike through the brush to Thomas Drive where he hitched. a rid.e the air fieId.. Lt. Reaver stayba with the 1;1anb. Later, to trying to fry the plane off the beach, the incoming tide caught-" ,in*" and'wrecked it. Tbe prane had to be .taken apart in ord.er to

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camying __e

squadron repreaented. an important ]ink in the coastal defense girdle furnished by the dedicated. volunteers of the national civil Air Patror. Today panama city has an active squadron .9n

in the

vqs,v vrqu^vrt.l^r same tradition

.-under the lead,ership of capt. peter cabaniss-r roday,s . ,Fanniq tr'ierd. bears tittre resembrance to the primitive air_

Lrr sel,Vr1:e, of service r_ and. currently . EIn61 C11flgnt-Ly

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thqt'.the

equad.ron had.

developnent

a lasting and important affect on tbe. of aviat ion in Bay County.

Append.ix

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2 for cuuent

membership

list.

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COA$faL P,,iTROL b;ySE

APLrrl!DIX

Civil Air patrol

Personnel

ii

14

, Lt. Charles t Arn, Lt. Robert Azis, Joseph

And.rervs

Bennett, Mabel Bingham, Thomas Black, Lt. Curtis E. Braden, Betty Brandhuber, Joseph Bruch, Lt. Philip Burdick, Lt. Williarn Clark, I-,i. Carl Cohen, Lt. Bernard Cross, Mrs. Dorothy Cross, Lt. Henry T,
Dabney,

Davies, Lt. ? Demarest, Corp. William Dod.ge, Major Robert E. (Ist C.O.) Dossey, Lt. Dwyer, Major Xdward T. (2nd C.O.) Ferner, I,t. George r FLorence, Lt. Richard Fouse, Robert Fowler., Lt. William E.

Lt. Fhilip

Furry,

George

Greener Lt. Arthur Hahn, Ed.ward Heberding,' Do1Iy Hindersheid, Lt. Jack Jivid.en, Lt. Carl Kaumeyer, Wallace

Kirkr lrt. James Kisse], Lt. ? Landfairr'Lt. Robert l,ankamer, Faul Laufman, Irt. 'Leonard Lentzr lt. Pau] Milkey, Lt. Lester E. Milligrenr Chap Nord.r I,t. Elmer Ol-iverr Lt. William Owens, :Lt. Gerald + r Kil1ed. in service

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APi:LNDlX

cont

Percy, John G. Power, Capt. Fomest V. Pobrer, Gabriel Reaver, John p. Reaver, Lt. Stanley Rid.enour, Hap Hoss, I,t. Dona1d Sanderson, Lt. George
Tinyr. ? (radio repair) Turner, Lt. Donalt C-' UIe, Lt. Joe Vance, Lt. Chaney Vaughn, Lt. atvi! f. i l{eston, Ferd lVetzel, Lt. I.ranklin B. Willoughby, Lt. ? (
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Spe11erber6, Lt. John

Schott, Lt.

Ed.ward

t kiI1ed in servi-ce with the

squadron

(Tfr" writer apologizes list or foi any emors for the incompleteness of this Enat may have occumed.)

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pANAivrA

crry ,o*"orr*t;H::# - crvr,, AIR I'OHCI, AUXILIARY

co

ArR pArRoL

lst l-rt. Howard I. Simpson,Corn. Ca<lets Officer Operat,ions lst Lt- Joseph o. soaresr'commun:-cilions cfficer Jean Woodham, SI,i, Aili". Officer rst 7. 2nd r,t. Edward Fi p';;;i;o;;-rl;;r"e officer q. "^^^t'vr'Lt. Clark K. wiigi"=, 9.. Eaward Crateau , srq , "iii ot Ass,t. co 10. Mark Conner, SM, cdaLt Activities +1. 9.p!. Stefan Jankievricz, pif ot--l?. Dat1hs Carrol1, SM, pifot 11. t,'lilliam Tobil, 'SM,'piitt M. teivindr'SM]1. RaymondL. Johnsonr'Sll 15. Jeroue Lt. Col. Henry Nelson, Ctrief Check l,ilot \7_. lst Lt. Richar:d D. Turner, pifoi---IB. James L. Delk, SM, pilot 12. I,lajor Donald N. guifi, Chaplain ?9. ElliotDona,. H. Ellsworthi personnet Cfficer Y3lg" ?\. Kenith A11en, SM, rraininfi eiii;;;"?2. Noel vlilsori, Sti ?1. CarolNash, SM' Gray, ?!. 2nd Lt.-nbnafSM 2>. a f,. GiIIette ?6. Marian yancey, SIy, pilot ?7. fhomas R. vaircey,'Sfi;-; 8c p Mechanic David ?9. Lt. Stevens, bti. pilot 29. CoI. ted l,te1scin, Uaf,
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1. 2. ?. +. 59.

g:ri: Harold L. rrlaters, n"p. Com. l;"r,io;; "".":'::;::r:":1'.1,r. Major Ruby I:,,'Snn,
James

Dep.

t/il]ian

W. Ilughes,

Sm

12. Gord.on V. Blank6nship, SM ,r. Lt. Col-. Betty McliabL, snn, Check pilot
GROUP ONN HEADQUARTERS STAEF

1. I.i9" John F. Hobbs, Group One Command.er 1- 'oapt- Paul Jenklnsr-Group cne comrnunic.tions officer -Officer 1. -2nd Lt- BettyGaII ,'Group'One Aamin. 9*pt. Robert +Gari, Group one admin. Ass,t. officer
I'1Al
SER Southeastern Region Member at Large A & P Airframe and power plant

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PANAI,IA

OITY

COIVIPOSITIE

SQUADRON OIVIL AIR PATHOL

\ ,, 1. ?. 1. 4. 2. 5. 7., 8. 9. IO.
Thomas

CADETS

K. Hielscher Anthony D. Jones, Cadet John F. Hobbs Jr. Alonzo O. Witliams Stephen lrJ. Myers Barbara L. Clayton Robert D. GalIRandall D. Bryant
Tommy Lown

Commander

Mark Creamer

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;i ] Civil Air patrol (lu'lembers not shown in photograph or not identified.) Lt. l{i11iam E. Fow1er Lt. Alvis E. Vaughn + John P. Reaver Lt. Robert Arn !/aIIace Kaumeyer Capt. F. V. Power Ferd Weston Gabriel ],ower Robert Fouse Lt,.. John r.ipellerberg T,t. ' Lester Milkey ,i Major lJdvard 1.. Dwyer Lt. Curti-s E. Black * Lt. Leonard f,aufman Lt. Charles tJ. Andrews * Lt. Paul Lenl.z Lt. Donald C. Turner Chap ivlj 11i qren H"} Olson r Ki11ed. in service with the Souadron

COriStlAL PA'IIiOL .Bri$U

2nd co

l. Lt. Richard Florence 1,7. I,t. Georj'e l-landerson 2. f,t. Carl Clark 1g. Lt. Fidward Schott 19- Lt. l)on Iioss ?. Lt. William Oliver 4. lo11y-Heberding Z6,. Betty Brad.en Zl . IIap Ridenour 6. Lt. Stanley Reaver ZZ. Lt. j,hil Dabney 7. Mabel Bennett 27. f,t. ili1l Burdick B. Lt. George Ferner + Zi+. John G. Percy 9. Mrs. Hank (Dorothy) Cross Zr. Lt. Bernard Cohen LO. I.,t. tr'ranklin B. Wetzel 26. 11. 2?. l-z. zE. J,t. James Kirk 1). Lt. CarI Jividen ?9. OorJl. l,/illiam Demarest ]1. George Furry tO. I,t. Jacl,. Hindersheid. Lt, Henry T. Cross ]2. Major Robert ll. IauI f,ankamer Ib. E. Dod.ge, lst CO 12.

SI,IIII\G - Left to Right

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,STATIDING

,. 4. Lt. ? Willoughby Phil Bruch -

2.
6. 8.

1. Lt.

Elmer Nord

- Left to Iiight
l,t. Arthur Greene ? t7. Lt. Ed Hahn 18. Lt. Gerald Owen +
192C^.

1516.

7.'
9. Lt. ? Kissel
14.

10. Lt. Bob Land.fair 11. Lt. Joe Ule 12. Lt. ? Doseey 11. I,t. Arthur Greene

2r?

21. Joe Azis 22. 1,t. ? Davies

2+.. 3,

"fily"

(rad.io repair):

26. ">.

27. Joe Brand.huber

Squad.ron

rKilfed in service with the

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