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The Air Force Academy

In taking its place beside West Point and Annapolis, the Air Force Academy joins a proud company. The honored histories of the two older institutions provide a peerless standard against which, in future years, the excellence of the new Academy will be measured and found worthy.

-President Dwight D. Eisenhower
July 11, 1955 Dedication Message

The Air Force began functioning as a separate, co-equal service on September 18, 1947. The dream of the Air Service pioneers - Menoher, Patrick, Mitchell, Foulois, Westover, Arnold, Yount, and others - had finally been realized. The other part of the dream, the creation of an air academy, was still in the future.

June 24, 1954, Secretary Talbott announced that Denver, Colorado, would be the interim location of the Academy while the permanent facilities were being constructed north of Colorado Springs. Acting under instructions from Secretary Talbott, General Harmon went to the Denver area to inspect possible locations. First, he examined Fort Logan, in west Denver. It had been a World War II facility and had been deactivated. Later, it became the site of a national cemetery. Next, Harmon conferred with Chancellor Chester Alter of the University of Denver. The chancellor agreed to have Harmon make a survey of university property which might be temporarily suitable for the Academy. General Harmon then made a careful examination of the facilities of Lowry Air Force Base in east Denver. He soon concluded that a portion of Lowry #2 at the extreme eastern edge of the base would constitute the best temporary site. The World War II wooden barracks and other buildings could be rehabilitated, and the surrounding areas could be landscaped to present a creditable appearance and a suitable academic environment. On July 19 General Harmon recommended to Secretary Talbott that Lowry Air Force Base be designated as the interim location. On the same day, Mr. Talbott made the official announcement. Plans for the necessary rehabilitation of the buildings and facilities got underway immediately.

As early as January 1949, the Air University Planning Board had recommended that "upon authorization ... an interim Academy be established with a relatively small group of Air Cadets."' Public Law 325, popularly known as the Air Force Academy Act, authorized the Secretary of the Air Force "to construct and equip temporary or permanent Public Works including buildings, facilities, appurtenances, and utilities at such location." The same law authorized the expenditure of $1 million for the purposes of providing temporary facilities.

In a letter dated July 27, 1954, Secretary "Falbou advised General Harmon that, "The United States Air Force Academy is established [at Lowry Air Force Base] and will operate as a separate operating agency ... under the direct control of the Chief of Staff, United States Air Force, with the procedural functions as a major air command." The Secretary also stated in his letter that the Academy would be attached to the Air Training Command for statistical reporting, administration, and logistical support until such time as the Academy was capable of performing these functions itself.

General Harmon proceeded to assume command and to function as the Academy's first Superintendent. Accordingly, General Order Number 1 was published on August 14, 1954, announcing the official establishment of the Academy at Lowry Air Force Base effective, July 27. Upon signing General Order Number 1, General Harmon was relieved of his duties as Special Assistant for Air Force Academy Matters, and the office continued to function in the Pentagon.

Under the Academy Act, each senator and representative could nominate ten persons who would take a competitive examination. Appointments from each state would be made from qualified candidates from that state in order of merit established by the examination. In each state, all congressional nominees would compete among themselves for vacancies allocated to the state. Eighty-five percent of the appointments would be allocated to members of Congress for nomination purposes. The other 15% would be allocated to all other nominating authorities like the president, the vice-president, members of regular and reserve components, sons of Medal of Honor winners, sons of deceased or disabled veterans, etc. In all of the categories, the successful candidates would be chosen through competition among themselves.

Secretary of the Air Force Harold Talbott and Superintendent Harmon survey the new Academy sign at Lowry Air Force Base, Denver.

The officials of the Air Force believed that this method of nomination would provide the most democratic means of procuring cadets with high qualifications without precluding those, young men who were financially unable to complete college. Some congressmen, however, were afraid that their districts would not be represented in the new Academy. They would have preferred the West Point and Annapolis system of appointing a principal candidate and an alternate.

Under the Air Force Academy system, the actual selection of candidates would be made by small committees of senior Academy officers who would review all of the applicants' records. Those selection committees would use a judgement factor, based on "the whole-person" concept, to determine the best qualified candidates in cach congressional district. The composite ranking arrived at by the selection committee would then be submitted to the Academy Board for a final vote. Then the official appointment would be confirmed.

During the three years that the Academy was housed at Lowry, many things happened which were unobserved and not recorded. The air was filled with high hopes and expectations for the newly established school. Everyone involved, administrators, faculty, and cadets, was ever conscious that lie was engaged in an historic undertaking. All were in the limelight. Everyone was edgy and nervous. Each participant was striving for perfection and approval, yet no one really knew what these goals meant. Public approval of what was being done was consciously sought by the top oflicials, and this added to the existing anxieties.

Constant attention of the news media, reporters, and television teams did nothing to calm the existing tensions and feelings of frustration. Everyone had the feeling that he was swimming in a fish bowl flooded by high intensity spotlights. For most people, this was not a comfortable situation.

General James E. Briggs was made the Superintendent of the Academy when General Harmon retired. The official change of command ceremonies were scheduled for the afternoon of July 27. Before the brief ceremonies were completed, it started to rain and thunder, and large bolts of lightning flashed through the skies.

Yet that staunch old military leader, ill as he was, stood through the whole review and solemnly returned the salute of each cadet squadron. Meanwhile, as he related years later, General Briggs, standing at Harmon's side, was very apprehensive that the stress would kill the old general or that one of the young cadets marching with rifles and fixed bayonets would get struck by lightning.

General and Mrs. Harmon returned to their retirement home in San Antonio. His health continued to decline. On February 22, 1957, General Harmon died at Lackland Air Force Base Hospital. His remains were cremated and kept in a Colorado Springs mortuary pending burial at the Academy, as he had requested.

On September 28, 1958, a month following the move of the Cadet Wing to its permanent site, General Harmon's ashes were buried in the Academy Cemetery. His interment was the first in the new cemetery. This was the first occasion on which the Cadet Wing wore the all-white parade uniform designed by Cecil B. DeMille. The entire Cadet Wing as well as the whole Academy staff and hundreds of relatives and friends participated in the impressive ceremony. Full military honors were rendered to the late Superintendent. The Cadet Choir and the Academy Band provided appropriate music. Chaplain John S. Bennett, the first Protestant chaplain, and his successor, Chaplain Charles I. Carpenter, conducted the service. Jets, in the missing man formation, flew over the grave. Cadets fired a final rifle salute and the bugler in the distance sounded "Taps" which echoed sadly throughout the valley. As the Cadet Wing quietly left the cemetery to board the buses, an important epoch in the history of the young Academy had ended. In essence, the Air Force Academy is a living memorial to the courage, singleness of purpose, idcals, and integrity of Hubert Reilly Harmon.

Whenever one thinks of the U. S. Air Force Academy, an image of its ultra-modern architectural features immediately emerges. An association is made linking the Academy with the unfolding aerospace age. Very seldom, if ever, does one think or write about the historical background of the site itself. Hardly anyone ever calls attention to the significant fact that the Pikes Peak region, already so rich in American history, has over the past three decades become the key location for the education of young air officers charged with the, future security of the nation and the free world.

Many famous American names have been associated with the Pikes Peak Region: Zebulon Pike, who discovered the Peak in 1806; Stephen Long, who with his small band of soldiers explored the area in 1820; Kit Carson, mountain man and guide in the 1830s; John Charles Fremont, the great path marker of the 1840s; Julia Archibald Holmes, one of America's first liberated women, who, wearing her daring bloomer costume, climbed to the top of Pikes Peak in 1858; Helen Hunt Jackson, poet and literary champion of the American Indians, who lived in Colorado Springs in the 1870s and 1880s; and Katherine Lee Bates, who, while teaching a summer course in 1893 at The Colorado College, went to the top of Pikes Peak and was inspired to write the words for "America the Beautiful."

While the new academy was being launched at its interim site in Denver, a miraculous transformation was occurring at its permanent home in the untamed cattle country wilderness north of Colorado Springs. The job was one of vast magnitude and complexity. Unlike most American campuses, which were built piecemeal, the Air Force Academy building complex was being constructed all at one time. The only other American institutions of higher learning to move into ready-built campuses were Stanford, Duke, and the University of Chicago. When ground was broken in 1955, the Academy project represented the largest single educational building program ever undertaken in the United States.

Wlliam Sebastian Stone was no stranger to the Academy. General Stone had played a leading role, as chairman of the Stone Committee, in developing and refining the curriculum following the publications of the Air Force Academy Planning Board Study in 1949. In 1951 General Harmon had recommended Stone to the Air Force Chief of Staff as his personal preference as Dean of the Faculty.

A native of Missouri, Stone graduated from the Military Academy in the Glass of 1934. He had played football and lacrosse and had served as cadet captain of Company E. He was also elected as the senior class president. He received his pilot's wings and served in a variety of meterology duties before and during World War II. He was awarded an M.S. degree in meterology from Cal Tech in 1938 and an M.A. in economics from Columbia University in 1949. From 1940 to 1942, Stone taught economics at the Military Academy. During World War II, he served as Director of Weather Services for the Pacific Theater. From 1947 to 1950, he was assigned to the Department of Social Sciences at West Point and served with distinction under Colonel Beukema.

In 1948 Colonel Stone was assigned, as an additional duty, to assist the Air Force Academy Planning Board in curriculum planning. He attended the National War College in 1950 and 1951 and then served a tour in Europe. After being promoted to brigadier general, his next assignment was in the Pentagon in the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel. Prior to his appointment as Superintendent, General Stone was the commander of the Eastern Division of the Military Air Transport Service.

General Stone reported to the Academy with a definite set of marching orders. He was instructed by the Pentagon to reduce the cost of operating the Academy and to tighten up the organization by reducing personnel. These objectives seemed to fit his personality perfectly. Basically, Stone was a solid, careful managerial type. He had determination, selfconfidence, and a keen sense of organization. He was a positive, decisive person, who did not shrink from making tough decisions.

On September 25, 1955, the members of the Class of 1959 selected the falcon as the mascot of the Cadet Wing, they established one of the Academy's unique symbols and traditions. Cadets from several generations have proudly served as the twelve official falcon handlers. The proper training of falcons demands a great deal of time, patience, skill, and understanding. The reward comes from the pleasure of sports audiences intrigued and delighted by the aerobatics of the falcon soaring and diving over the heads of the spectators. Originally, the falcons made public appearances only at football and basketball games. Later the mascot appeared at other athletic contests in which cadet teams played. All Academy varsity sports teams are proudly called the "Falcons."

Since no specific species was specified, a variety of falcons have been used by the cadets. Prairie falcons are used in most of the public performances. On October 5, 1955, one of the early peregrine falcons was named "Mach I" for the speed of sound. This is still the official name of the performing falcon, although each bird receives an individual name from the cadet handlers. The largest and most regal of the species, the white gyrfalcon, found in the Arctic, is portrayed as the official Academy mascot. These beautiful, graceful gyrfalcons are shown at sports events but do not perform. Over the years, the official mascot has been given a variety of names like Atholl, Pegasus, Baffin, and Glacier.

The Academy falcon is the only performing mascot in the NCAA. The cadet falconers first new the falcon in 1956 in a stadium during half time. In 1957 the falcon was first flown indoors at a basketball game. By 1958 the cadet falconers flew a flight of two falcons at a football game. The falcon flew its first night performance at the George Washington University game with President Dwight D. Eisenhower present. A feather of one of the Academy's prairie falcons, "Hungary," was carried to the moon aboard Apollo XV by Colonel David R. Scott.

On May 29, 1970, General John C. Meyer, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, presented the air Force Outstanding Unit Award to the Academy for exceptionally meritorious service. At this time, it was pointed out how the Academy had established a tradition of honor and service to the nation. Nearly one half of the 4745 graduates had seen combat duty in Southeast Asia. Their record of excellence was reflected in the awards and decorations they had won: Air Force Cross-5, Silver Star-9, Legion of Merit-2, Distinguished Flying Cross-665, and Air medals-over 6500.

Forty-four graduates had been killed in action through mid-June 1970. Forty-five graduates were missing in action and seventeen were known Prisoners of war. Eleven graduates had been credited with destroying MIG aircraft in Southeast Asia. Outstanding military performance was demonstrated when ninety-eight Academy graduates were promoted to major ahead of then contemporaries. Scholastically, 205 graduates had won national scholarships and awards including eleven Rhodes Scholarships.

Word came from the White House that the President would be the commencement speaker at the graduation of the Class of 1984. A record number of spectators began to appear at the stadium shortly after 6 A.M. Interstate 25 and Academy Boulevard leading into the stadium were gridlocked with rush-hour traffic. Part of the problem was the fact that the Secret Service had closed all of the entrances to the stadium except two. Metal detectors were positioned at each of these gates and security agents manually searched many of the people going through the devices. Purses, camera bags, and other personal belongings were carefully inspected.

President Reagan and his party arrived in time in helicopters. The crowd burst into loud cheers as General Scott escorted President Reagan to the podium, already surrounded by distinguished visitors, including the Secretary of the Air Force and Senator Barry Goldwater. It was a beautiful Colorado day, without a cloud in the sky, and the mercury rising to the upper 80s.

First there were several preliminaries such as the Commander of the Cadet Wing presenting the President with a diploma making him an honorary member of the Class of 1984 and bestowing upon him the Cadet Saber Award. The President officially handed the Commander-in-Chiefs Trophy to Bart Weiss and several other Falcon players. Next, President Reagan used the occasion to present a Congressional Medal of Honor to Retired Master Sergeant Bill Crawford of Palmer Lake, Colorado, for an act of bravery in 1944. Then the president presented the Distinguished American Award to William Thayer Tutt. President Reagan then began to deliver his fifteen-minute speech. During the talk, a solar eclipse took place, but hardly any members of the audience were aware of this event until they read about it in the newspapers.

The seventy-three-year-old President Reagan began his address by reminiscing about the time of his own college graduation fifty-two years before. He then told of how the country had changed during the intervening years. The president then got to the heart of his message by calling for a stepped-up space program which he said was limited only by "our own courage and imagination." Next, he challenged the Class of 1984 to new achievements in pushing back the new frontiers of space. The president went on to say:

The measure of America's future safety, progress, and greatness depends on how well you protect the peace; and on how well you hold fast to our most precious values ... Let your determination to make this world better and safer override all other considerations ... This Academy was not built just to produce warriors. It was also built to produce leaders who understand the great stakes involved in the defense of our country; leaders who can be trusted with the responsibility to protect peace and freedom. You are those leaders. And while you must know better how to fight a war, you must also know how better than those before you how to deter a war and how to preserve peace.

When the awarding of the diplomas and commissions began, President Reagan surprised the vast audience. Instead of greeting the seventy distinguished graduates, the president stood at the center stage for nearly three hours, bare-headed in the blazing sun, during the entire roll call of cadets and shook the hand of every one of the 997 graduates.

George V. Fagan. Air Force Academy: An Illustrated History. Johnson Books. June 1988.

Air Force Academy Falcons Air Force Chapel Figurine This delightful figurine features a tiny replica of the Air Force Chapel. A perfect gift for a Air Force Academy Falcons alumni.

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