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NC Wing Now Has a Glider

Logs for the glider
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Col Ragland presents Col Crawford the logs for the glider. Photo by Lt. Col. Jackson (click image to view full size)
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Two Gliders Delivered to the Middle East Region - Final Destinations are North Carolina and West Virginia

4/17/2013––Following a lengthy road trip from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, two gliders assigned to Civil Air Patrol (CAP), arrived in Danville, VA on April 11, 2013.

“One of these gliders will be sent to the North Carolina Wing (NCWG) and will be the beginning of their new glider program.  They have spent some good training time getting prepared for this,” said Col. Larry J. Ragland, Middle East Region (MER) Commander.  “The second glider will be sent to West Virginia Wing to replace the aging glider they are currently using,” he continued.

On Saturday, 13 April, a work party led by Lt Col Gene Jackson, MER Glider Coordinator, gathered at the regional airport in Danville, VA. Lt. Col. Jackson was joined by Col. Ragland, Col. David E. Crawford, NCWG Commander, SM Paul Franzon , Raleigh-Wake Composite Squadron (NC-048),  and SM Mike Beverly and SM Lloyd Williams, of the Virginia Wing.

The team unloaded the gliders from their shipping trailers and prepared them for annual inspection.  Col. Crawford noted that the two TG-10B "Merlin" gliders transferred to CAP from the U.S. Air Force Academy are commercially known as the L-23 Super Blanik and will be augmenting the MER glider program, with centers located in WV, VA, SC and now NC.

“Glider operations in North Carolina are tentatively scheduled to begin sometime during the week of April 22, with the NC glider being initially based at the Triangle North Executive Airport in Louisburg,” said Col. Crawford.

“With four operational gliders in MER, we should all be excited about the future of our collective glider programs.  We hope to see many more of our cadets getting up and soaring high across all boundaries and beyond all limits,” Col Ragland said.