News - Page 3

South Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol, has completed a major drone photography data collection project for researchers at the Center for Sustainable Solutions at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City funded by the US Bureau of Land Management. CAP’s effort collected and processed over 786,000 multispectral images mapped across 8,125 acres (13 square miles) along Middle Creek, a tributary of the Belle Fourche River. The Center’s scientists aim to understand the consequences of historical bentonite mining that has left much of the region with reduced vegetation and to explore the feasibility of restoration of the area.

Four South Dakota Wing units have earned CAP’s Quality Cadet Unit Award for 2024 - Lincoln County Composite Squadron, Rushmore Composite Squadron, Big Sioux Composite Squadron, and Lookout Mountain Composite Squadron.

A South Dakota Wing, CAP aircrew marked the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks by performing a Homeland Security mission for the South Dakota Air National Guard’s 175^th Fighter Squadron.

Lt. Col. Kevin Pegelow will serve as CAP’s next South Dakota Wing Commander. Col Tom Theis, CAP’s North Central Region Commander, made the announcement recently. The change of command will be in December.

Pegelow, currently South Dakota Wing Vice Commander, joined Civil Air Patrol in 1992, progressed through the cadet program, and is a proud graduate of the Wisconsin Cadet Academy.  He received the Carl A. Spaatz award in 1997 (#1362) and served in Wisconsin wing in a number of squadron officer roles until 2006. 

After moving to South Dakota in 2021, he rejoined Civil Air Patrol after a 15-year break. 

During the recent AE weekend in Onida, 14 cadets from six SD Wing squadrons earned their Cadet sUAS badges. 

South Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol, joined in a multi-agency search and rescue exercise (August 22) coordinated by Ellsworth Air Force Base. The exercise simulated searching for B-1 aircrew members who had ejected after an inflight emergency.

South Dakota Wing, CAP, has been assigned the newest Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS or drone) by CAP’s National Headquarters. The X10D is the latest military-grade UAS produced by Skydio, a US based company. It has the most advanced IR camera on the market today and the company boasts that the color camera will zoom to 160 times a normal image.

Members of South Dakota Wing, CAP were honored to present a Congressional Gold Medal to the family of Dorothy Lu Johnston, who served in the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Corp during World War II.

Congress, in 2014, approved the Congressional Gold Medal to the wartime members of Civil Air Patrol in honor of their roles in carrying out other vital wartime domestic missions.

Cessna 172 N98776 has completed its service to South Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol, with capstone flights that included a high-profile flood photography mission and orientation flights for members of CAP’s “Cadet” youth program. The Cessna 172 will soon be for sale.

South Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol hosted South Dakota’s adjutant general, Major General Mark Morrell, for a training flight on June 25.  The flight allowed the adjutant general to witness first-hand the role CAP has played in recently conducted flood damage assessment photography and other CAP communications and search and rescue capabilities.