AUBURN — The 77th Composite Squadron, local unit of the Civil Air Patrol, hosted a training exercise on July 20 for the entire Maine Wing at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport.

The training exercise included placing practice emergency beacons in the Naples and Litchfield areas and having air and ground crews fan out to find the beacons. Emergency beacons are used in aircraft in case of a crash landing and CAP Squadrons are regularly assigned the task of locating down aircraft.

Aircrews also practiced aerial photography skills used most recently for damage assessment during Superstorm Sandy. The Communication Unit set up a trailer to handle remote communications with all participants.

Rick Lanman, airport manager, and his staff welcomed the Wing and made extra accommodations on a busy flying weekend.

The 77th Composite Squadron is looking for new members and cadets to participate in squadron activities.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 61,000 members nationwide and operates a fleet of 550 aircraft. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and has been credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 80 to 100 lives annually. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief, damage assessment and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies.

The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 27,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP received the World Peace Prize in 2011 and has been performing missions for America for 71 years. For more information, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com.