MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Civil Air Patrol Cadets Chloe Powers and Samantha Pate recently received the Wright Brothers Award for completing all requirements of the learning phase, which is phase one of the five-phase cadet training program.
The award is named for the two Americans who are credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight.
To earn this award, cadets must pass a comprehensive leadership exam and a physical fitness test.
Along with the Wright Brothers Award, both cadets received a promotion to cadet staff sergeant.
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 72 lives in fiscal year 2009.
