By JIM JENKINS
NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs Department

PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION, MD-The U.S. Naval Test Pilot School was honored recently with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Middle East Region Frank G. Brewer Award for contributing to the aerospace education of youths.

For nine years running TPS, along with the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum, has sponsored "Principles of Airplane Aeronautics," a class designed to teach selected students from the four local high schools about some of the advanced technology being developed and tested here. Bob Richards, the former TPS chief academic instructor, started the course to expand the museum's involvement within the community.

Richards and Jim McCue, TPS academic instructor, formulated a short course of study and began recruiting area high school students. The class was a success and has continued to enrich the education of local youths ever since.

The Brewer Award received by TPS was one of eight regional awards issued by the Civil Air Patrol nationwide. The Middle East region of the CAP includes Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, Washington D.C., North Carolina and South Carolina. The Brewer Award was established Dec. 31, 1959, and serves as a memorial to Frank G. Brewer Sr. and his lifelong interest in aviation, youth and education.

"It's been very satisfying to us to see the success of this program," said Richards speaking for himself, McCue and TPS. "To get this kind of recognition is spectacular."

Col. Larry Trick, CAP Maryland Wing commander, presented the award to Cmdr. Bob Stoney, TPS commanding officer, during an impromptu ceremony held in the TPS break room. Stoney, in turn, dedicated and presented the award to Richards and McCue for their tireless effort in making the "Principles of Airplane Aeronautics" program the success it is today.

"It's an award, not just for Bob and me, but for the whole school," McCue said. "Because the number of staff members who support (the program) is significant."

The semiannual "Principles of Airplane Aeronautics" course is eight weeks long, and students meet every Wednesday at 3 p.m. With help from Richards, McCue and other volunteers from TPS and the museum, students cover basic flight principles and the flight controls of aircraft. The students then move on to more advanced topics like airplane design, theories of propulsion and airborne mission systems.

The seventh session is dedicated to showing the students what they've learned via a hands-on lab at TPS. The students practice their new skills by flying a simulator with a realistic cockpit environment, controls and out-the-window visual scene - the same simulator which TPS students fly. Also, the high school students get to demonstrate how pilots use forward looking infrared, night vision goggles and air-to-ground radar.

For the eighth and final session, students present their final projects, which can be anything from a written paper presentation to a full-blown visual display like a working wind tunnel experiment.

According to Richards, many students walk away from this course with a better understanding of what they want to do with their careers, whether it be going into the engineering field or just having an interest in airplanes.

"Everyone thinks the Civil Air Patrol is just a search and rescue thing," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Gary Edelblute, CAP Middle East Liaison Region commander. "We say now that a youth we save through a youth program like this aerospace education cadet program is just as important as a life saved from a rescue of a crashed airplane."

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