Civil Air Patrol plans new headquarters at Cherry Capital Airport

A new Civil Air Patrol headquarters at Cherry Capital Airport would put Traverse City’s volunteer aircrew closer to the plane it uses for search-and-rescue work, trimming a delay that now sends members to Cadillac before missions can begin.

The Traverse City chapter has already raised almost $300,000 from Cherry Capital Airport, local foundations and member dues, and the airport has given the group a spot on the airfield. Steel for the hangar foundation is on the way, and the plan calls for a public training center in front of the aircraft space. That makes the project as much about community use as aviation storage.

The practical case is speed. Right now, chapter members have to drive to Cadillac to pick up the aircraft before they can launch, a step that adds friction to a group built for rapid response. In a region where winter weather, lakes and forested terrain can turn a missing person search into a time-sensitive race, shortening the distance between volunteers and the plane has obvious value.

Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and a nonprofit with more than 60,000 volunteers nationwide. Its own materials say volunteers conduct about 85% to 90% of inland search and rescue in the United States as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and other agencies, and CAP reported supporting 395 such missions last year. The local chapter’s work has also reached beyond aircraft spotting and training. During the pandemic, Civil Air Patrol moved COVID-19 tests from prisons in the Upper Peninsula to labs in Lansing, and last year it helped search for downed communication towers after the ice storm.

The Traverse City squadron itself has deep roots here. Wayne “Buzz” Bauers has said the chapter started in 1955 and has been in continuous service ever since. Earlier local reporting said the chapter once had a donated hangar at the airport, but the plane later moved to Cadillac after that hangar was rented to a commercial operation. A 2017 account said Traverse City, Cadillac, Grayling and Alpena shared one aircraft based in Cadillac, underscoring how much local infrastructure can shape regional response.

For Grand Traverse County, the measurable payoff is not prestige. It is a faster launch, a better-trained volunteer force and a more visible public safety asset already tied into northern Michigan’s emergency network.