August 31, 1943: CAP Coastal Patrols Ended

Image by trixie via Flickr

On this date in 1943, Civil Air Patrol Coastal Patrols ended, largely because they had worked so well in spooking German U-boats from coming near American waters.

An excerpt from the Centennial of Flight website:

Largely in reaction to the Civil Air Patrol’s activities, enemy submarine close-in operations along the East Coast were withdrawn and, on August 31, 1943, Civil Air Patrol coastal patrols were ordered to stand down (cease operations). In the ultimate compliment, a Nazi submariner later admitted that the U-boats were pulled back "because of those damned little red and yellow airplanes" of the Civil Air Patrol.

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