Description

36 pages
U.S. Air Corps Advanced Flying Observation School ….. Clear !! Brooks was one of three early flying schools established during the first World War. Ground was broken on the site of Brooks Field December 8, 1917, and it was named in memory of Lt. Sidney J. Brooks, son of Judge and Mrs. S. J. Brooks of San Antonio, Texas, who was killed in a crash on what was to be his final flight before winning his commission. ….. After the war, training activity at Brooks Field subsided for a number of years and the field was used as a “lighter-than-air” center. In 1922, the huge dirigible hangar, with its 91,240 square feet of floor space, was constructed and a complete school for training in free and captive balloons was established; and Brooks soon became the nation’s fourth largest airship dock. ….. In September 1922, Brooks Field became a Primary Flying School, and continued as such until October 1931, when the 12th Observation Group was established at Brooks, with the 88th, the 12th, and the 22nd Observation Squadrons. The 22nd still remains as the only tactical Squadron in the San Antonio area. In February 1940, Brooks Field again resumed flight training as a part of the Kelly Field Advanced Flying School. Brooks became an independent advanced school January I, 1941 and on February 15, the nation’s only Advanced Observation Flying School was added to the field’s activities. ….. The roll call of. Brooks Field graduates reads like a Who’s Who of international aviation with such outstanding graduates as Lester Maitland, the first to fly the Pacific; Jimmy Doolittle and Frank Hawks, noted speed flyers; Maj. Stanley M. Umstead, the army’s chief test pilot; Maj. Orville Anderson, co-holder of world’s altitude record; and Charles A. Lindbergh, the first to fly the Atlantic solo. ….. The advanced flying school and advanced observation school each graduate a class every five weeks. ….. Brooks Field is building for an all-out effort in behalf of the nation’s huge defense program, and at this time has a half-million dollar building expansion program underway.