[Wing HQ, Rapid City, SD] Aerospace education is one of the three congressionally mandated missions of the Civil Air Patrol. This coming weekend aircraft and vehicles will bring officers and cadets from across the state to Sioux Falls to participate in the South Dakota Wings Aerospace Extravaganza for 2017.

The mission base will be at the headquarters of the Sioux Falls Composite Squadron at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport. From there cadets will have the opportunity to fly on powered aircraft orientation flights in and around Sioux Falls area. In addition, cadets will be ferried in groups to Worthington, MN where they will participate in glider orientation flights.

While waiting for their turn to fly in the aircraft and gliders the cadets at mission base will take part in a plethora of activities including building and test flying balsa-wood model gliders, building and launching model rockets, fly radio-controlled model powered aircraft and model powered gliders, fly computer flight simulators, receive instruction in how control surfaces affect flight dynamics.

Also included in the weekends activity is a guided tour of the South Dakota Air National Guards 114th Fighter Wing facility at Joe Foss Field.

Project Officers for the Aerospace extravaganza are Lt. Col. Todd Epp, commander of the Sioux Falls Composite squadron, and Lt. Col. Buck DeWeese, vice commander of the South Dakota Wing of the Civil Air patrol. Epp can be contacted at 605-351-5021 and DeWeese at 605-641-2362.

The South Dakota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, with squadrons in Sioux Falls, Brookings, Rapid City, Pierre, Custer and Spearfish has approximately 300 members, seven light aircraft and 17 multi-purpose vehicles. These assets are available to federal, state and county governments, emergency responders and law enforcement agencies to perform search and rescue, homeland security, disaster relief, humanitarian assistance and counter-drug missions. For information: Wing website at http://sdcap.us, Wing Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SDWingCAP,Wing Twitter @SDWingCAP, Wing photos Flickr https://twiter.com/photos/102270464@N02/sets.

Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Forces Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, along with Air Force retired military and civilian employees. CAP, in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 78 lives annually. Civil Air Patrols 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Its members additionally play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. Performing missions for America for the past 75 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of the heroic efforts of its World War II veterans. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit http://www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.

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Civil Air Patrol to hold Aerospace Extravaganza - Rapid City Journal