When was the U.S. Air Force Academy established?
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The United States Air Force Academy is an undergraduate college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with the mission of educating and commissioning officers for the United States Air Force. The Academy was established in 1954, entered its first class in 1955, and graduated its first class in 1959. All students hold the Air Force rank of "Cadet." Sports media refer to the Academy as "Air Force"; this usage is officially endorsed. Most cadets are admitted through a congressional appointment system. The curriculum is broad-based but has traditionally emphasized science and engineering. Before the Academy's first graduating class in 1959, the United States Military Academy and United States Naval Academy were the primary sources of officers for the Air Force and its predecessors, the Army Air Corps and Army Air Forces. Though the primary focus of the Academy is for the Air Force, some graduates are given the option of "cross-commissioning" into the United States Army, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, or United States Coast Guard.
List of United States Air Force Academy alumni
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Support for an air academy got a boost with the National Security Act of 1947, which provided for the establishment of a separate Air Force within the United States military. As an initial measure, Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington negotiated an agreement where up to 25% of West Point and Annapolis graduates could volunteer to receive their commissions in the newly established Air Force. This was only intended to be a short term fix, however, and disagreements between the services quickly led to the establishment of the Service Academy Board by Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. In January 1950, the Service Academy Board, headed by Dwight D. Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University, concluded that the needs of the Air Force could not be met by the two existing U.S. service academies and that an air force academy should be established.
United States Air Force Academy
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The U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School—usually referred to as "the Prep School" or "The P School"—was established in May 1961. The school's founder and first commander was Colonel Lee Charles Black. It is located on the campus of the United States Air Force Academy near the Community Center. The Prep School's mission is to prepare, motivate, and evaluate for admission to and success at the Air Force Academy. Students at the prep school are referred to as "cadet candidates" or more informally as "preppies."
United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School
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The U.S. War Department created the first antecedent of the U.S. Air Force, as a part of the U.S. Army, on 1 August 1907, which through a succession of changes of organization, titles, and missions advanced toward eventual independence 40 years later. In World War II, almost 68,000 U.S. airmen died helping to win the war, with only the infantry suffering more casualties. In practice, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) was virtually independent of the Army during World War II, and in virtually all ways functioned as an independent service branch, but airmen still pressed for formal independence. The National Security Act of 1947 was signed on 26 July 1947 by President Harry S Truman, which established the Department of the Air Force, but it was not until 18 September 1947, when the first secretary of the Air Force, W. Stuart Symington, was sworn into office that the Air Force was officially formed as an independent service branch.
United States Air Force
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In September 1947, the U.S. Army Air Forces became a separate and independent service, renamed the United States Air Force (USAF). At the time, the newly created Air Force had no service academy of its own yet (the USMA and USNA had options for their cadets and midshipmen, respectively, to become USAF officers). Separate Air Force ROTC and Officer Candidate School (later retitled Officer Training School) programs were still being established. The Aviation Cadet Training Program continued to remain as a principal source of the Air Force's pilots and navigators and they wore the same basic uniform as Air Force officers.
Aviation Cadet Training Program (USAAF)
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As Secretary of the Air Force, Douglas helped establish the United States Air Force Academy. He authorized the Air Force Commendation Medal to replace the Army version of the award. Douglas advised the President regarding a course of action in response to The Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik I in October 1957. He also reaffirmed the 1925 court-martial verdict against air power advocate Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. He said the court was correct to have been found Mitchell guilty of publicly attacking his superiors, but noted that time had proved Mitchell was right about the unique value of air power.
In April 1959, the secretary of the air force issued implementing instructions to USAF to deploy two Jupiter squadrons to Italy. The two squadrons, totaling 30 missiles, were deployed at 10 sites in Italy from 1961 to 1963. In October 1959, the location of the third and final Jupiter MRBM squadron was settled when a government-to-government agreement was signed with Turkey. The U.S. and Turkey concluded an agreement to deploy one Jupiter squadron on NATO's southern flank. The deployment of US nuclear armed missiles in Turkey triggered the Cuban Missile Crises.
James H. Douglas Jr.
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The United States Air Force was created in 1947 as an independent service branch and legislation was passed to create a United States Air Force Academy. Selecting the best location for the academy was deemed critical by Congress and the Air Force Academy Site Selection Board was established to manage the task. The board evaluated more than 580 locations in 22 states before selecting the current Colorado Springs site.
Site selection
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The U.S. Air Force Academy women's team was founded in 1977, shortly after the first admission of women to the academy. The women's team competed within Colorado for several years, but moved to national competition when the women's national championship competition was organized in 1991. The women's team won the first national championship that same year, and have gone on to win three more, in 1994, 2002 and 2003. Two of the Air Force women's players, Shalanda Baker and Laura McDonald, have gone on to play for the United States Women's National Team.
Zoomie Rugby Football Club
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Prior to the Academy's establishment, air power advocates had been pushing for a separate Air Force Academy for decades. As early as 1918, Lieutenant Colonel A.J. Hanlon wrote, "As the Military and Naval Academies are the backbone of the Army and Navy, so must the Aeronautical Academy be the backbone of the Air Service. No service can flourish without some such institution to inculcate into its embryonic officers love of country, proper conception of duty, and highest regard for honor." Other officials expressed similar sentiments. In 1919, Congressman Charles F. Curry introduced legislation providing for an Academy, but concerns about cost, curriculum and location led to its demise. In 1925, air power pioneer General Billy Mitchell testified on Capitol Hill that it was necessary "to have an air academy to form a basis for the permanent backbone of your air service and to attend to the ... organizational part of it, very much the same way that West Point does for the Army, or that Annapolis does for the Navy." Mitchell's arguments did not gain traction with legislators, and it was not until the late 1940s that the concept of the United States Air Force Academy began to take shape.
United States Air Force Academy
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Briggs became the second superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy on August 1, 1956, when he succeeded Lieutenant General Hubert R. Harmon. He guided the operation of the new academy during two of its three years at the interim site on Lowry Air Force Base, near Denver, Colorado, and the move in August 1958 to the permanent home of the academy north of Colorado Springs Colorado.
James E. Briggs