OTHER WARTIME MISSIONS
Women were actively recruited by CAP. In addition to support duties at Coastal Patrol bases, women pilots flew inland liaison, forest fire patrol and other missions. By war's end, women made up 20 percent of the Civil Air Patrol. These women were not immune to duty's dangers. Margaret Bartholomew, commander of the Cincinnati courier station, was lost in the western Pennsylvania mountains after departing Williamsport, unaware of a surprise
storm ahead. Departing just as new weather information reached Williamsport, Bartholomew did not hear the tower's desperate attempts to recall her flight.
In all, Civil Air Patrol flew a half-million hours during World War II and 64 CAP aviators lost their lives.CAP's role after the war was much in question, and it was widely expected to fade away along with most other wartime institutions. But military and political leaders rose to praise CAP's unusual commitment and accomplishment. At a special dinner in Washington, DC in March, 1946, President Harry Truman, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, and no less than 300 members of Congress and 50 AAF generals gathered to praise its work. President
Truman later signed a bill granting CAP a national charter, placing the organization in a unique status similar to the American Red Cross. The United States Air Force was created as an independent armed service in September 1947, and the Civil Air Patrol was permanently designated as its official auxiliary the following year.
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