Pennsylvania Wing Civil Air Patrol

The Pennsylvania Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is the highest echelon of CAP in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Wing headquarters is located at Fort Indiantown Gap, an Army National Guard installation near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Wing is abbreviated as "PAWG", and is often referred to by its members as "PA Wing". A Pennsylvania keystone is a symbol commonly used in patches and designs of PAWG.

History
Pennsylvania Wing is one of the original 48 wings in Civil Air Patrol.

In the spring of 1942, the Pennsylvania Wing conducted a 30-day experiment with the intention of convincing the Army Air Forces that they were capable of flying cargo missions for the nation. PA Wing transported Army cargo as far as Georgia, and top Army officials were impressed. After the 30 day trial period, the War Department gave CAP permission to conduct courier and cargo service for the military, often flying mail, light cargo, and important military officials between USAAF bases.

One of the Civil Air Patrol's very first "Aviation Cadet Programs" was established at the Pittsburgh Army Air Field in the spring of 1943. Accepting young men as "Aviation Cadets" in a delayed enlistment program for the Army Air Forces, the Pittsburgh Squadron trained these boys (as young as 15) in Aerospace and Military subjects and vetted them for service as Army Air Force Pilots. Graduating a total of 16 Aviation Cadets for the Army in less than ten months, the Pittsburgh Squadron model was copied by units in Philadelphia, New York City and as far south as Florida. Today, the current Squadron with direct lineage to that Aviation Cadet Unit is the CAP's second longest, continually operated unit on a Military Installation.

On December 31, 1999, PA Wing units were put on stand-by in case of any problems arising from the Y2K bug.

During the September 11 attacks, Pennsylvania Wing was ordered to a stand-by state. Although not officially tasked with any missions in direct support, PAWG radio communications centers were operational and prepared to offer assistance.

In 2006, PA Wing was activated to fly reconnaissance missions during the 2006 flood. PAWG aircraft flew over major waterways to provide detailed photographs of flood-affected areas and to monitor floodwaters as they moved downstream.

31 Members from Pennsylvania Wing Civil Air Patrol traveled 28 hours to Pascagoula, Mississippi to aid in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. PAWG Ground Teams went door-to-door ensuring that local residents had adequate food, water, and medical care.

In August and September 2011, all CAP emergency service teams in Pennsylvania Wing and CAP members from Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana Wings were activated to assist communities affected by Hurricane Irene (2011) and Tropical Storm Lee (2011).

During the time between September 1, 2010 to December 1, 2011, the Pennsylvania Wing saved eleven lives, provided emergency response in Pennsylvania during the 2011 flooding and severe winter storms.

In November 2012, CAP Pennsylvania Wing emergency services air crews and ground teams were activated to assist communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware during flooding and high wind of Hurricane Sandy.

During Late December 2017 and early January 2018, CAP Pennsylvania Wing emergency services ground teams were sent to help dig out Erie Pennsylvania.

In March 2021, as a part of Civil Air Patrol's response in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, members of Pennsylvania Wing provided support at a vaccine point of distribution.

Pennsylvania Wing Commanders



 * 1) Lt. Col. William L. Anderson — December 1, 1941 to August 18, 1945
 * 2) Lt. Col. Philip F. Neuweiler — August 18, 1945 to March 26, 1946
 * 3) Lt. Col. Carl A. Reber — March 26, 1946 to August 15, 1947
 * 4) Col. Philip F. Neuweiler — August 15, 1947 to March 21, 1970
 * 5) Col. Angelo A. Milano — March 22, 1970 to November 5, 1977
 * 6) Temp. Col. Andrew E. Skiba — November 5, 1977 to June 28, 1978
 * 7) Lt. Col. Edward T. Kelly (Int.) — June 28, 1978 to January 1, 1979
 * 8) Col. Angelo A. Milano — January 1, 1979 to December 7, 1987
 * 9) Col. Raymond F. Schuler — December 7, 1987 to February 16, 1990
 * 10) Col. M. Allen Applebaum — February 16, 1990 to November 14, 1990
 * 11) Col. Larry Kauffman — November 14, 1990 to November 20, 1993
 * 12) Col. Joseph A. Guimond, Jr. — November 20, 1993 to August 19, 1995
 * 13) Col. Jean-Pierre J. Habets — August 19, 1995 to August 15, 1999
 * 14) Col. Fredric K. Weiss — August 15, 1999 to June 14, 2003
 * 15) Col. M. Allen Applebaum — June 14, 2003 to September 29, 2007
 * 16) Col. Mark A. Lee — September 29, 2007 to November 12, 2011
 * 17) Col. Sandra E. Brandon — November 12, 2011 to May 16, 2015
 * 18) Col. Gary Fleming — May 16, 2015 to May 18, 2019
 * 19) Col. Kevin Berry — May 18, 2019 to May 1, 2023
 * 20) Col William A. Schlosser — May 1, 2023 to Present

Pennsylvania Spaatz Awards

 * 1) Michael F. S. Hanford — February 14, 1966
 * 2) Kenneth B. Hibbert — September 12, 1967
 * 3) Ramon L. Bennedetto — May 16, 1968
 * 4) Michael A. Allen — November 22, 1968
 * 5) Richard B. Smith — January 7, 1969
 * 6) James I. Heald — May 15, 1969
 * 7) Paul S. Draper — January 14, 1970
 * 8) Harry Z. Mertz — January 14, 1970
 * 9) Gary J. Kirkpatrick — May 14, 1970
 * 10) Roy K. Salomon — April 11, 1972
 * 11) Marie E. Stutz — June 28, 1972
 * 12) Donald P. Flinn — July 24, 1972
 * 13) Mark L. Sweeney — March 15, 1973
 * 14) George S. Rose — June 18, 1973
 * 15) Robert P. Pelligrini — August 2, 1973
 * 16) Gary P. Standorf — November 7, 1974
 * 17) Keith D. Kries — March 7, 1975</li>
 * 18) Konrad J. Trautman — February 14, 1977</li>
 * 19) Robert Mattes — October 2, 1977</li>
 * 20) Lawrence L. Trick — November 22, 1977</li>
 * 21) Jerrold Warthman — March 1, 1978</li>
 * 22) Richard Magners — July 3, 1978</li>
 * 23) Richard Graves — August 22, 1978</li>
 * 24) James Kraftchak — January 2, 1979</li>
 * 25) William Snee — May 1, 1979</li>
 * 26) Bryan Watson — November 13, 1979</li>
 * 27) Robert Atwell — November 16, 1979</li>
 * 28) Terry Hawes — November 19, 1979</li>
 * 29) Jeff Riley — August 8, 1980</li>
 * 30) Terry Friend — September 3, 1980</li>
 * 31) Tim Hawes — October 27, 1980</li>
 * 32) Richard Yingling — May 6, 1981</li>
 * 33) R. Steven Rickert — October 7, 1981</li>
 * 34) Edward Czeck — June 25, 1982</li>
 * 35) Sean Neal — December 13, 1982</li>
 * 36) Anthony Sodano — December 17, 1982</li>
 * 37) Walter Garnett — April 1, 1984</li>
 * 38) Kurt Hack — February 28, 1985</li>
 * 39) Robert Lutz — January 22, 1986</li>
 * 40) Daniel Weston — May 8, 1986</li>
 * 41) David Mertes — September 5, 1986</li>
 * 42) Paul Andrew — April 6, 1988</li>
 * 43) John Angeny — July 1, 1988</li>
 * 44) Lawrence L. Stouffer — April 18, 1989</li>
 * 45) John Talaber — August 8, 1989</li>
 * 46) Henry Lutz — August 29, 1989</li>
 * 47) William Davis — June 12, 1990</li>
 * 48) Kerim Yasar — January 16, 1991</li>
 * 49) Joseph Shirer — August 27, 1991</li>
 * 50) Randy Lentz — August 27, 1991</li>
 * 51) Isaac Zortman — November 21, 1991</li>
 * 52) Richard Gray — December 9, 1991</li>
 * 53) Nathaniel Szewczyk — February 25, 1992</li>
 * 54) Kara Grimaldi — January 18, 1993</li>
 * 55) Timothy Cheslock — June 29, 1993</li>
 * 56) Sarah Ferdinand — June 29, 1993</li>
 * 57) Julian Rivera — January 12, 1995</li>
 * 58) Julius Armstrong — December 22, 1995</li>
 * 59) Joel A. Martin — December 3, 1995</li>
 * 60) Broderick A. Jones — December 3, 1995</li>
 * 61) Michael T. Bauer — July 19, 1998</li>
 * 62) Jason Secrest — July 16, 1999</li>
 * 63) Sean T. Conroy — June 9, 2000</li>
 * 64) Joshua Plocinski — December 21, 2002</li>
 * 65) Shawn M. Cressman — March 13, 2003</li>
 * 66) Erin M. Nelson — February 21, 2006</li>
 * 67) David J. Spillane — April 21, 2007</li>
 * 68) Robert A. Nolt — July 26, 2007</li>
 * 69) Matthew J. Postupack — August 28, 2007</li>
 * 70) Thomas P. Carr — December 22, 2007</li>
 * 71) Courtney Gallagher — December 23, 2009</li>
 * 72) Dane V. Carroll — August 19, 2010</li>
 * 73) Noah D. Bendele — April 21, 2011</li>
 * 74) Abigail R. Hawkins — August 9, 2013</li>
 * 75) Ethan J. Dunlap — May 20, 2014</li>
 * 76) Nicholas A Cavacini — June 19, 2015</li>
 * 77) Nicholas G Basile — September 28, 2015</li>
 * 78) Jared K. Przelomski — January 19, 2016</li>
 * 79) Adam I. Parker — May 17, 2016</li>
 * 80) Josiah L. Acosta — August 1, 2017</li>
 * 81) Matthew J. Chirik — November 6, 2017</li>
 * 82) Brandon M. Webber — January 21, 2018</li>
 * 83) Matthew D. Robinson — June 15, 2018</li>
 * 84) Mallory Fichera — July 26, 2018</li>
 * 85) Nolan E. Hulick — January 9, 2019</li>
 * 86) Andrew G. Myers — February 9, 2019</li>
 * 87) Andrew S. Wieder — August 10, 2019</li>
 * 88) Colin T. Phipps — January 6, 2021</li>

Source: 

Structure
Pennsylvania Wing is the highest echelon of Civil Air Patrol in Pennsylvania. PA Wing reports to Northeast Region CAP, who reports to CAP National Headquarters.

Pennsylvania Wing Headquarters is located in a renovated former World War Two Post Exchange (PX) and Non Commissioned Officers Club (NCO Club) complex at Fort Indiantown Gap in Annville, Pennsylvania. Offices, classrooms, a communications center and an emergency operations center are located inside the Headquarters. Additionally, the headquarters building is located approximately one mile from Muir Army Airfield.

Reporting to the Wing level, Pennsylvania is divided into six geographic groups. Each group conducts training, activities, classroom learning and programs, with actual missions assigned to a group from the Wing. Originally, the state was divided into three groups (western, central, and eastern); but with an increasing number of squadrons, PAWG divided split each group into northern and southern sections, creating six groups in 2007.

Reporting to each group are 60 squadrons. Squadrons are the local level of organization and serve the local community, and squadrons meet weekly to conduct conducts training, activities, classroom learning and programs to carry out the three missions of Civil Air Patrol - Emergency Services, Cadet Programs, and Aerospace Education.

There are three types of Civil Air Patrol squadrons.
 * 1) A cadet squadron focus primarily on providing for cadets (ages 12 to 21).
 * 2) A senior squadron is a unit dedicated to allowing senior members to focus on CAP's missions.
 * 3) Composite squadrons have both cadets and senior members working together.

As of December 1, 2014, the PA Wing operates 60 squadrons, in six groups, 15 aircraft, 34 ground vehicles and a state-wide radio communications network that is operational 24/7 and is part of a national network.

Group 1
Group 1 is responsible for operations in and around the Pittsburgh area.

Group 2
Group 2 operates around Harrisburg.

Group 3
Group 3 operates in the greater Philadelphia area.

Group 4
Group 4 conducts operations in the 14 county area of Eastern Pennsylvania from Lower Bucks County to the PA/NY State Border.

Group 5
The Group 5 region encompasses much of North Central Pennsylvania, including State College, Altoona, and Williamsport.

Group 6
Group 6 is responsible for operations near Erie.