Sadly, BSA in its infinite wisdom dropped Air Explorers in 1966, right as the Space program was getting exciting. I've continued since then as a leader and merit badge counselor, getting the impression that it was a backlash from Vietnam era anti-militarism and pressure to start a Police Explorer program ... yet today, Scouting is involving alternate lifestyle leaders and even girl members, which to me is bizarre. (Baden-Powell and Juliette Gordon Low must be spinning in their graves!)
Yes, our units were Squadrons, and along with my Scouting Eagle, I earned the equivalent Silver/Ace Award, similar to your Sea Scout's Quartermaster. My whole family were Scouting oriented with Mom a Den Mother and Dad a Scoutmaster ... I spent part of my NavAir time as Air Scout Leader in Corpus Christi for a unit sponsored by the Navy.
Taken in '58 when USAF LtCol. Dad was on H-Bomb test duty in Eniwetok Atoll, while we lived in Pacific Beach, CA to be close to grandparents in La Jolla.
btw - Mom was an Adult Education Art Teacher, and one of her students turned out to be the wife of the president of the Associated Glider Clubs of Southern California, who mentioned you could solo gliders at 14. She signed us both up, I started lessons that weekend at Torrey Pines cliff with a winch launch, going solo on my birthday, while Mom took power lessons in their Piper Cub towplanes at Montgomery Field, mostly from ex-WASP Dottie Schultz, with the two of them entering the transcontinental Powder Puff Derby in a Cessna 195.
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