what city and state was the air force academy established?
El Paso County United States of America Colorado Colorado Springs
entailment
 In May 1938 the Air Corps conducted one of the largest maneuvers in its history . 468 officers , 2 @,@ 380 enlisted men , and 131 aircraft were drawn from all three wings of the GHQ Air Force and based at 18 airports in the northeast United States , " from Schenectady , New York , and Aberdeen , Maryland , westward to Harrisburg , Pennsylvania " . Included were eight B @-@ 17s of the 2d Bombardment Group . All were assigned as the " Blue Force " defending New England from the " Black Force " , an attacking aircraft carrier fleet . The Navy , involved in fleet exercises off the West Coast , did not provide ships to play the role of the Black Force . The Army publicized the resulting scenario as depicting simultaneous attacks on America by hostile fleets on both coasts , with the Air Corps tasked to defend against one of them . 

entailment
 Exercises at a Booker T. Washington monument located at the Tuskegee Institute commemorated the beginning of black American pre @-@ flight training for military aviation . The first twelve candidates for officer @-@ flier positions were cited by America 's black press as , " the cream of the country 's colored youth . " The first classes started at the institute , and flying lessons soon began at the Tuskegee Army Air Field ( TAAF ) some approximately ten miles away . After it was built , government press releases recounted that the air field was developed and built by Negro contractors both skilled and unskilled . Of the original class , five students graduated in March 1942 . 

neutral
 After World War II , the 20 years of foundational work by the bomber mafia resulted in the separation of the United States Air Force from the Army to become an independent military arm . The bomber mafia 's strategic doctrine , changed by war and experience , helped shape the mission of the new Air Force and its Strategic Air Command . 

contradiction
 " Cadets " underwent training in artillery and engineering studies at the garrison since 1794 . In 1801 , shortly after his inauguration as president , Thomas Jefferson directed that plans be set in motion to establish at West Point the United States Military Academy . He selected Jonathan Williams to serve as its first superintendent . Congress formally authorized the establishment and funding of the school with the Military Peace Establishment Act of 1802 , which Jefferson signed on 16 March . The academy officially commenced operations on 4 July 1802 . The academy graduated Joseph Gardner Swift , its first official graduate , in October 1802 . He later returned as Superintendent from 1812 to 1814 . In its tumultuous early years , the academy featured few standards for admission or length of study . Cadets ranged in age from 10 years to 37 years and attended between 6 months to 6 years . The impending War of 1812 caused the United States Congress to authorize a more formal system of education at the academy and increased the size of the Corps of Cadets to 250 . 

neutral
 In the aftermath of the war , several American generals , including Henry H. Arnold and Carl Andrew Spaatz , asked Trenchard to brief them in connection with the debate which surrounded the proposed establishment of the independent United States Air Force . The American air leaders held Trenchard in high esteem and dubbed him the " patron saint of air power " . The USAF was formed as an independent branch of the American Armed Forces in 1947 . 
