27 September 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TWENTYNINE PALMS MARINE EARNS YEAGER AWARD
Aerospace education award given by Civil Air Patrol
(Palm Springs, Calif.) – Civil Air Patrol's Palm Springs Composite Squadron 11 today announced that Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Robert Hofmann has earned the Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager Aerospace Education Achievement Award.
Hofmann is assigned to the Marine Corps Communication Electronics School, and is an instructor with A Company, Radio Maintenance Training Section at the Twentynine Palms Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif. Hofmann, who is also a First Lieutenant as a senior member volunteer in the Civil Air Patrol, currently serves as an Assistant Deputy Commander for Cadets of the organization's squadron in Palm Springs. In that role he mentors the unit's 30 youth members ages 12-20 in physical fitness, drill, military discipline, customs and courtesies, and leadership. Hofmann joined Civil Air Patrol in 2008.
The Yeager Award is presented to Civil Air Patrol senior members for completion of an elective aerospace education program. Yeager recipients have a demonstrated knowledge of the evolution and development of aviation and aerospace technology from the first rockets and hot air balloons to modern space technology.
The award is named for Charles E. Yeager, better known as “Chuck Yeager,” who flew P-51s in World War II and became an ace in one day by shooting down five enemy aircraft before returning to his home base. After WWII ended, Yeager returned to the United States, where he eventually became a test pilot. He was assigned to a little-known base located in the high desert of California. This Army Air Field eventually became the now-famous Edwards Air Force Base. Yeager was assigned to test numerous aircraft, but it was the Bell X-1 that brought him international fame. On October 17, 1947, he pushed the rocket-powered aircraft to a speed that was faster than the speed of sound. Yeager made the Air Force his career and retired in 1975 with a rank of Brigadier General. For his outstanding contributions to the science and technology of flight, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 59,000 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. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 24,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years. Visit www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com for more information.
The organization’s local unit, Palm Springs Composite Squadron 11, meets every Wednesday night from 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. in the south hangar of the Palm Springs Air Museum. Squadron 11’s membership is comprised of cadets ages 12-20 and adult members 18 and older. For more information about Civil Air Patrol in the Coachella Valley, phone (760) 666-9343 or visit www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com.
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