A Glimpse into History and a Reason to Give Back

"CAP Cadets Win Promotion - Civil Air Patrol cadets Larry Seeders, Howard Hampson, and John Palmer (left to right) receive the General Billy Mitchell Award entitling them to promotion to the rank of cadet second lieutenant from Major W. W. Morley, Air Force Reserve, as Cadet Second Class David L. Thrasher and CAP Second Lt. Charles W. Taylor Jr. look on. The cadets are members of Cumberland Composite Squadron, CAP, which meets at the Naval Reserve Training Center. Major Morley serves the squadron as cadet aerospace officer and Lt Taylor is commander of cadets. "

Our own 1st Lt Howard Hampson who now teaches Aerospace Engineering with Frederick Composite Squadron was once a cadet himself and last week he brought a couple of newspaper clippings in to share. I thought it was wonderful that he still had such mementos on hand, and asked if we may post them and give a little background on his introduction to the Civil Air Patrol. I took photos of the newspaper clippings, and 1st Lt Hampson sent the following:

"I joined the Civil Air Patrol in The Cumberland Squadron when I was 13 and was a cadet until 18 when I enlisted in the Air Force. At one point we had over 200 cadets in the squadron. We had multiple ground teams, a color guard, and parade drill team of about 50 cadets that marched in parades like the Virginia Apple Festival parade.

One of the first things I was involved in was a major search and rescue operation.  A B-52 bomber crashed in a bad snowstorm north of Grantsville MD with 2 atomic bombs on it, and they didn’t know where the bombs were. We had the CAP, the State Police, the Air Force, the nuke folks, and the NTSB descend on Cumberland. Each group was set up in different hangers. We younger cadets became message runners between the participating groups (we didn’t have the internet or sophisticated communications back then!).

They had to wait until the snowstorm ended to begin search and rescue. Two crew members survived. One was located by a CAP pilot.  The bombs were located 2 days later. Watching what happened as a 13 year old made me sure that the CAP was where I wanted to be.

Through the years as a cadet, we assisted in several other SAR (Search and Rescue) operations. Western Maryland mountains were not friendly to aircraft in trouble. The cadet ground teams would set up perimeters around a crash site until the NTSB arrived, which could be a day or two."

Note: If you would like to read more about the history of the crash that 1st Lt Hampson is referring to, you can read about the 1964 Garrett County B-52 Bomber Crash in The Baltimore Sun. It mentions that it was a CAP pilot who located the downed co-pilot. You can also read this article, Residents recall B-52 Crash, Nuclear Scare in the Daily Local News that refers to the nervousness surrounding the cargo from the crash: two thermonuclear weapons.

Solo Flight  3-19-68
"Student Pilot Solos - Howard R. Hampson, 17 of LaVale, is congratulated by his instructor, Richard C Bartel, after soloing in a Piper Colt at Cumberland Municipal Airport after less than six and half hours of instruction. Hampson is a cadet technical sergeant in the Cumberland squadron of the Civil Air Patrol. His instructor is a cadet lieutenant colonel in the Bowie-Bel Air CAP Squadron and is a pilot and flight instructor for Nicholson Air Services, Inc. at the local airport."  

More from Lt Hampson - 

"One of the pictures was of myself and two other cadets receiving the Mitchell award and promotion to Cadet Second Lt.

I learned to fly as a cadet. The other picture was one of me and my flight instructor after I soloed in a Piper Colt.  It didn’t hurt that my instructor was the Deputy Cadet Commander and his boss was the Squadron Commander!

When I enlisted in the Air Force and arrived at basic training, our flight of 60 men (boys) was formed. Because the Air Force recognized the great training we received through CAP, I was selected as the flight leader and my four squad leaders were Mitchell recipients as well.

What I learned as a CAP cadet has served me well through my whole life and career.  I joined the Frederick squadron as a senior to try to give back to the organization that gave me so much."

And I for one think that we are very lucky to have him, along with his enthusiasm for sharing his knowledge and experience of Aerospace Education, with us now at the Frederick Composite Squadron. Thank you, 1st Lt Hampson.