PHOTO: Civil Air Patrol Search and Rescue in Auburn

: David Barker of Farmingdale checks the oil level before taking off for a Civil Air Patrol search-and-rescue exercise at Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport in Auburn on Saturday. The volunteer-based patrol has six aircraft scattered around the state and is on standby around the clock, seven days a week, Maine Wing Commander Dan Leclair of Minot said. “If an airplane goes down in the state of Maine, we get the call,” Leclair said. A simulated crash was based in Oxford on Saturday. Air crews flew from the airport and ground crews based at the Auburn fire station on Minot Avenue searched for the emergency locator beacon hidden near Oxford Plains Speedway. The Civil Air Patrol is the auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and was founded on Dec. 1, 1941, to search for German submarines along the East Coast of the United States. The patrol saves an average of 100 lives a year across the U.S., Leclair said.