November Newsletter
1 November 2005 - Lebanon, NH — SM Jessica Smith continues to work hard in her new position and has put together our second monthly newsletter. Thanks to all who contributed.
Read the newsletter (60 KB)October Newsletter
1 October 2005 - Lebanon, NH — Thanks to SM Jessica Smith, the squadron's new PAO, we have published our first squadron newsletter. Anyone wishing to contribute articles, photos, or ideas to future editions should contact SM Smith.
Old Rhinebeck Trip
1 October 2005 - Rhinebeck, NY — Members of the Lebanon squadron visited the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome on Saturday and saw all sorts of old aircraft from the early 20th century. Old Rhinebeck has a few hangars full of aircraft on static display, but the most unique and interested aspect is their air show where they fly these vintage aircraft.
The museum's 1909 Bleriot XI - the oldest flying aircraft in the US
In addition to aircraft, the Aerodrome also has a large collection of automobiles, motorcycles, early engines, and memorabilia from 1900-1935. All the staff are dressed in clothes of the era and they put on quite a good show.
Thanks to 1Lt. George for organizing the trip and driving the van down and back. We'll be going back next year hopefully for a two day bivouac so we can see the air shows on both days.
On the Air
12 September 2005 - Burlington, VT — WCAX Channel 3 of Burlington, VT aired a feature on the Civil Air Patrol highlighting members of the Lebanon Composite Squadron. They covered various aspects of the organization from our involvement in search and rescue to the cadet program.
View the show (2.9 MB)24 August 2005 - Lebanon, NH — Two members of the squadron were guests of Jason and Traci in the Morning on KIXX 100.5 FM. Maj. Freeman and c/Amn Roy visited with Jason and Traci to talk about Civil Air Patrol and the Lebanon Squadron.
Listen to the show (3.5 MB mp3)
18 August 2005 - New London, NH — Four members of the squadron visited WNTK as guests of George and Monique on the Morning Lift Off show. Maj. Freeman, c/SrA Mather, c/SrA Filiano, c/Amn Roy traveled to New London for the interview. We'll have an audio clip of the show available here shortly.
Farewell Ferranti
15 August 2005 - Lebanon, NH — Tonight we bid farewell to Capt. Ferranti who has accepted a position as a flight instructor at Mesquite Aviation Services in Mesquite, TX just outside of Dallas. Thomas joined the squadron in March of 2004 and has since served as the Deputy Commander for Cadets. He's also spent many hours in CAP aircraft instructing most of the pilots and cadets aspiring to become pilots as a CFII. We wish Capt. Ferranti the best of luck in his new position.
Six Members Attend Encampment
6-13 August 2005 - Center Strafford, NH — Six Lebanon Composite Squadron members attended the cadet summer encampment. Cadets c/Amn Roy, c/SrA Mather, c/SrA Filiano, c/Amn Reeves attended their first encampment as basic cadets. Filiano received Honor Cadet in Delta Flight which received Honor Flight for the encampment.
1Lt. George attended his first encampment as the Delta Flight TAC officer while Maj. Freeman attend his fourth encampment as the Whiskey Flight TAC officer.
The four flights of the 2005 summer encampment
Filiano Receives Feik
27 June 2005 - Lebanon, NH — Congratulations cadet Dominic Filiano who received the Mary Feik Achievement tonight. This is the third achievement in the cadet program and earns him the grade of senior airman (c/SrA).
Goddard Space Center Trip
22-25 June 2005 - On the Road — A few members of the squadron traveled to Maryland and received a behind the scenes tour of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt this week. They also visited the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport and the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland.
Memorial Day Parade
Sunday, 29 May 2005 - Norwich, VT — The Lebanon Composite Squadron once again provided the colors for the annual Memorial Day Parade in Norwich. Cadets Ames, Filiano, and Mather comprised the color guard this year.
From the May 2005 American Legion Newsletter:
As the Veterans, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and Brownies assembled on the Norwich Green they were put in an upbeat mood by the lively music being played by the Marion Cross School Band.
At noon the flags at Tracy Hall were raised to full staff, the flowers having been placed, the memorial prayer was read, taps was played and echoed and the firing squad fired three rounds. The parade was formed.
Our Parade Marshall, Lt. Col. Mark Stanovitch USMC (Reserve), led the parade, followed by an immaculately restored WW II Jeep, complete with a driver in WW II uniform and our own Adjutant, Earl W. Thompson, as the sole passenger. Then came the truck and trailers of The Upper Valley Community Band, with tent-like roofs. Fortunately the roofs were needed to keep out the sun and not the rain.
Immediately following the band, the body of the parade was led by the Civil Air Patrol Color Guard from Lebanon, New Hampshire. Then came the shrinking group of veterans still able to walk, followed by Scouting groups from Norwich, Wilder and White River Junction.
Oldest Living Munchkin Proud of CAP
Wednesday, 4 May 2005 - New York (AP) — Meinhardt Raabe, who played the munchkin coroner in "The Wizard of Oz", has published a memoir of his life and adventures. Of all his accomplishments, he says he is most proud of his service with the Civil Air Patrol. He was an instructor during World War II and says he flew every kind of single-engine aircraft made at the time.
Model Rocket Competition Postponed
Wednesday, 4 May 2005 - Lebanon, NH — The annual wing model rocket competition previously scheduled for Saturday, 14 May 2005 has been postponed until September or October (date TBD). For more information, see the NH Wing site.
We'll continue to work on our rockets; with the extra time we should be able to make them perfect!
New Commericial Pilot
Wednesday, 6 April 2005 - Lebanon, NH — Maj. Charlie Freeman flew to Lawrence, MA for his commercial checkride today and had his private certificate taken away. In its place he received a little slip of paper indicating that he is now a fully certified commercial pilot. Let's hope this doesn't mean we'll all have to pay for our flights with him in the future! Congratulations, Maj. Freeman!
Change of Command and Awards
Monday, 28 March 2005 - Lebanon, NH — Congratulations to c/1Lt. Bauder who assumed the position of Cadet Commander tonight. Relinquishing command is c/2Lt. Rich who will be departing next week for boot camp with the United States Marines. We wish him the best in his service to our country.
Tonight c/2Lt. Rich also received the Air Force Association's Award for Outstanding CAP Cadets in appreciation of his 5 years of service with the Lebanon Composite Squadron.
February Search and Rescue Exercise
The Lebanon Composite Squadron hosted the first SAREX of the year on Saturday, 19 February 2005. The scenario was similar to the Christmas Eve 1996 Learjet crash in Lebanon. In that incident, a Learjet was lost on approach and was not located until three years later when a forester came across the crash site.
Since 1 January 2003, however, jet aircraft are required to have an operational emergency locator transmitter (ELT) installed in the aircraft. The aircraft in the scenario for the SAREX included an ELT to illustrate how much this would have helped in the search efforts had it been on board the Learjet that crashed in 1996.
As the exercise unfolded on Saturday, the air crews had the simulated aircraft located electronically by lunch time. They had no visual contact with the target the entire day. Ground teams were deployed to locate the target and rescue any simulated survivors, however due to time constraints they were not able to make it to the target.
Had the ground teams been lead into the target earlier, they would have found that it was a fifteen minute hike off the road. In this case, it was just off the Appalachian Trail, but it was designed to simulate more closely a real crash location. After all, if an aircraft were to crash near the road CAP would probably not be required to search for it.
Thanks to 1Lt. Brian George for setting up the simulated target and spending the entire day out in the field waiting for the search crews to rescue him. Thanks also to Capt. Rangi Keen who acted as the trusted agent at Lebanon providing clues to the mission staff. And of course, thanks to the entire team for coming out on a clear but cold Saturday to take part in some valuable training.
See the NTSB accident report for more details on the 1996 Learjet crash.
The next SAREX is currently scheduled for 16 April 2005.
2004 Stories
News from 2004 is now in the news archive.