The new leader of Illinois' Civil Air Patrol is a southern Illinois man from Mascoutah.Ricky Oeth will spend four years heading the search-and-rescue group. Oeth is a technology coordinator for the Sparta Community School District and has been a member of the Civil Air Patrol since 1976. The Illinois wing is comprised of six groups and 32-squadrons with more than 1,300 members state wide.
The Civil Air Patrol is a non-profit organization with more than 60,000 members and is the official auxiliary of the US Air Force. It was founded in 1941 and performs 90% of the search and rescue missions in the United States.
