About the New Britain Power Squadron The New Britain Power Squadron is a unit of the United States Power Squadron and members of the NBPS are also members of the USPS. We are committed to teaching boating safety and having fun whether on our boats or on dry land. A Brief History of the NBPS by P/D/C Kenneth E. Ericson AP The idea for a unit of the United States Power Squadron first came to a man by the name of Calvin E. Wilcox who lived in the New Britain area, but traveled to Middletown for Power Squadron meetings. He convinced four other men of the Middletown Power Squadron to help him. These four men were Richard D. Hart, William B. Reta, Edmund F. Robichaud and Paul W. Tuttle. They convinced eight other Middletown members to join them in applying for a charter for New Britain. This meant there were thirteen charter members. The eight were David L. Dunn, Charles E. Gullong, Stanley Hart, E.H. Lotz, Alfred Rizzi, Alex G. Schmidt and Harry M. Vile. Approval of the Charter was given by National headquarters on April 25, 1940. The charter was granted on that date with Calvin E. Wilcox as the first Commander. This was applicable since he was the one with the original idea and did all the nessessary work with National headquarters. It should be noted that six of the original 13 charter members became commanders as follows: Calvin E. Wilcox 1940-1941 Paul W. Tuttle 1941-1942 William B. Retz 1942-1943 William B. Retz 1943-1944 E.H. Lotz 1944-1945 Ricahrd H. Hart 1945-1946 David L. Dunn 1946-1947 Not a great deal is known about the squadron in these eary years except that the meetings were held in the commanders homes. In reviewing district records, I find that these same six men were active in forming District 1 of the United States Power Squadrons, which officially came into being on March 30, 1946. The District started with six squadrons with New Britain being one of the original six.