JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
U.S. Air Force General Henry H. Arnold or “Hap,” is well known for being many things – a founding father of the Air Force, an aviator and a strong leader.
However, a psychic is not typically one of those things.
“We have just won a war with a lot of heroes flying around in planes,” Arnold said in 1945 at the end of World War II. “The next war may be fought by airplanes with no men in them at enall.”
Little did Arnold know how true his prediction would come to be, with Joint Base San Antonio leading the way in writing several new chapters of aviation history.
The history of Air Force aviation in San Antonio dates back to February 1910 when Lieutenant Benjamin Foulois arrived at Fort Sam Houston, long before it was a part of JBSA, with the U.S. Army’s first airplane, Signal Corps No. 1. Foulois, who is often referred to as the “Father of the U.S. Air Force,” arrived on post with eight enlisted men and a maintenance budget of $150 to repair the aircraft, which had been damaged following a winter crash in Maryland prior to its arrival.
According to Foulois, his orders were to “take plenty of spare parts and teach yourself to fly,” Gary Boyd, Air Education and Training Command director of history and museums program, said.
“Foulois was one of those experts you could always count on to get the job done,” Boyd said. “It was his technical expertise and his ability to roll up his sleeves and work with anybody that caused him to continue to ascend.”
Just one month after arriving in Fort Sam Houston, Foulois took flight, becoming the first man to perform a test flight in the first military-owned aircraft. Foulois made four flights that day, with the longest lasting about 21 minutes.
“He was a one-man Air Force – one plane, one pilot,” Boyd said. “His success is an important reason why we have an independent Air Force.”
However, progress in the air was halted at Fort Sam Houston in May 1911 after Lieutenant George E.M. Kelly became the first U.S. military pilot killed in an aircraft crash and flying was banned on the installation.
Foulois returned to Fort Sam Houston in Nov. 1915 as the commander of the 1st Aero Squadron when the flying mission was restored. The squadron went on to make history in 1916 under Foulois when aircraft were employed for the first time in combat during an Army expedition in Mexico to assist efforts in capturing Pancho Villa.
Foulois was also instrumental in initiating steps for the establishment of Kelly Field in 1917, which became Kelly Air Force Base in 1948. He is also credited with devising the first aircraft seatbelt and conceiving many reconnaissance innovations, including radio and aerial mapping, for the U.S. Army.
“Foulois is that bridge between every era,” Boyd said. “The men looking up at balloons in Cuba to the Apollo mission and hypersonic missions.”
Lt. Col. Jason Green, 558th Flying Training Squadron director of operations at JBSA-Randolph, is one of those men who has benefited from the bridge Foulois created and is living out the future Arnold predicted.
“We produce aviators who are shaping airpower for the future, not only for the Air Force, but also for the Marine Corps,” Green said. “We’re creating a new airpower culture, and literally changing how we go to war. It starts right here at the 558th.”
The 558th FTS, whose mission is to produce the world’s greatest remotely piloted aircraft pilots and sensor operators warriors, has graduated the first undergraduate RPA pilots in the Air Force and the Marines Corps.
Since its re-activation in May 2010, the squadron has graduated more than 930 pilots, which will soon include enlisted pilots. The 558th, which is the Department of Defense’s only undergraduate RPA pilot training pipeline, expects to graduate 384 pilots in fiscal year 2017, a 131 percent increase from 2015.
“The 558th FTS graduated the first undergraduate RPA pilots and put wings on their chest here at JBSA just like Foulois was in charge of the first airplane owned and used in the service of the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston,” Green said.
According to Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, commander Air Education and Training Command, who spoke at an RPA pilot graduation a few months ago, RPAs are now the largest group of rated aviators in the Air Force, Green said.
“I think we are now living the future of aviation that was envisioned back then,” Green said. “I think what we do here at the 558th is really changing aviation forever.
“There are guys like Arnold and Foulois who were pioneers in aviation,” Green continued. “If you read their bios, everything they did was a first, and often times, what we’re doing here, it’s a first.”
JBSA-Randolph is also home to the 435th Fighter Training Squadron, 99th Flying Training Squadron, 559th Flying Training Squadron and the 560th Flying Training Squadron.
For questions about Foulois’ legacy, contact the AETC historian’s office, 652-5043.
(Editor’s note: Aviation History Month is an annual designation observed in November. All historical information was gathered from the Air Education and Training Command’s historians.)