Innovation was Required

Each base had a “Maintenance Wizard” to keep planes flying despite inadequate spare parts. Renown for their efforts at the three original bases were New Jersey’s Rudy Chalow, Delaware’s Ev Smith and in Florida, maintenance man Owen Gassaway, among others. Pilots at Base 2 said they flew “By the grace of God, and Smitty.”

CAP “made do” with what it could scrounge from the military, and invented what else was needed. Among homegrown innovations:

The truck-mounted Huck starter to turn propellers and start engines on cold mornings (many aircraft lacked starters and were normally hand-propped).

The “Barracuda Bag,” an inner-tube-and-burlap-bag arrangement for flotation and shark/barracuda protection of the legs and feet. (Comic courtesy of Zack Mosley family.)

At Coastal Patrol bases, it was often the wives of CAP pilots who staffed administrative functions.

An important one was radio communications. It was often the wife of a CAP pilot who was at the mike when an engine failed at sea, a desperate call was heard, and another CAP pilot joined the “Duck Club.”

Single engine planes were flown up to 50 miles off-shore. The multi-engine amphibians flew up to 200 miles at sea. Engine failures were common back then.

Some 90 CAP aircraft were ditched. Among some 59 CAP pilots killed in WWII, 26 were lost at sea.

Each base had a rescue amphibian to recover lucky pilots.

Things got tough when, as at Base 10 in Texas, the rescue amphibian was lost. Then, pilots went out, single-engine and with little hope of rescue.

I.    The Gathering Threat II.   The CAP Subchasers of WWII III.   Many Other WWII Missions IV.  Post-War: Now What? V.  The Cold War Years VI.  Search & Rescue VII. CAP Today

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