The Massachusetts Wing Civil Air Patrol (abbreviated MAWG), commonly referred to as "Mass Wing", is the highest echelon of Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its headquarters is located at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts. MA Wing reports to Northeast Region CAP, which reports to CAP National Headquarters.
Training for all Emergency Services functions is based on the Incident Command System. The most basic qualifications require certification in the ICS-100 course available online.
Members of the wing assisted in the search for John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s plane crash site.[1] A few Massachusetts Wing members aided with Incident Command at the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster.[2] More recently, several Massachusetts Wing members participated as members of CAPs Geospatial Team by performing damage assessments after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
In April 2020, members of the Massachusetts Wing began assisting the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic by helping to load and unload trucks, inventorying personal protective equipment and other needed medical supplies, and assembling orders of those items for delivery to local municipalities around the state.[3]
Aerospace Education (AE) includes a monthly aerospace education class, up to 5 Orientation Flights in powered aircraft, and 5 Orientation Flights in glider aircraft for Cadets under 18. Cadets may participate in a host of AE STEM activities such as model rocketry, flight simulation, robotics, and astronomy, to name a few. Cadets may also participate in a display competition based on the STEM principles which is judged at the annual Conference. Educators may gain access to CAP AE K-12 Curriculum and STEM Kits, by becoming an AE Member for a one-time fee of $35!
In addition to being a fun and rewarding activity for youth from 12 - 18 years old who join CAP and become cadets, the Cadet Program focuses on four main areas: Leadership, Aerospace Education, Fitness and Character. Annually, the Cadet Program culminates each summer in an 8 day, cadet lead and cadet run encampment. In recent years, encampments have been held at Joint Base Cape Cod, normally in the month of August.
Massachusetts Wing has credit for 18 Spaatz-earning Cadets, who successfully completed the four phases of the Cadet Program as depicted on the Cadet Super Chart.
There are currently 11 local area Squadrons in the Massachusetts Wing.
Further Information such as meeting times and locations may be found on the Locations page of the Massachusetts Wing website.