Major Carroll Burleigh Colby: Civil Air Patrol

     For those of us who grew up in the 1970s as kids, few school libraries didn't have at least one book by author C.B. Colby on the shelves. Most of the books I remember by him were military in nature but his span of works were not limited to the topics of weapons and war. Born Carroll Burleigh Colby on September 7, 1904, Colby's writing career began in 1929 when he sold his first fiction story. He took an interest in aviation and became a glider pilot in 1930 and soon embarked on a career of writing and illustrating articles for several aviation magazines. This would earn him the editorship in 1937 for "Air Trails" and "Air Progress" magazines. During World War Two, Colby became a war correspondent and was assigned to cover the U.S. Army Air Force in Alaska as well as Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. By 1942, Colby enlisted in the Civil Air Patrol (where he would attain the rank of Major) and in 1943, he left his editor seat for the two magazines to assume the post of aviation editor for "Popular Science" which he held until 1946 before relinquishing it to go freelance. Colby would commence writing non-fiction books for young readers in 1951 when "Our Fighting Jets" was published and from then on, the so-called "Colby Books" began to be released which not only covered military subjects but also public service/safety (such as police and fire) and outdoor sportsman topics. Colby would pass away on October 31, 1977.

     As for his decorations, it is difficult to determine with certainty what the ribbons are. The ribbon nearest the jacket lapel is likely the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Service Ribbon (old style) then the CAP Cadre Ribbon (ceased being issued in 1971) and the third could be the U.S. Armed Forces American Campaign Medal ribbon. Above the ribbon bar is his CAP Pilot Wing device. The devices on the jacket lapels were the standard CAP insignia of the 1940s which consisted of a pair of "wings and prop" and a pair of CAP initial devices.