Roots of America's youngest military service run deep<br>Air Force celebrates 63rd birthday Saturday Published Sept. 15, 2010 KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Many people know that the United States Air Force was established as a separate service on Sept. 18, 1947, but fewer may be aware that its lineage can be traced to before World War I, even to the very beginning of flight. In fact, the Air Force has a heritage that goes back almost as far as the history of modern flight itself. On Aug. 1, 1907, a scant four years after the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, the Army Signal Corps established a small aeronautical division to take "charge of all matters pertaining to military ballooning, air machines and all other kindred subjects," even though at the time there were few aeronautical "subjects" upon which to build. From the close of the Civil War until 1907, the Signal Corps consisted of just 10 balloons and a small dirigible. By 1909, however, the government purchased its first airplane -- a Wright Brothers biplane -- at a cost of $25,000, plus a $5,000 bonus for speed in excess of 40 mph. Throughout the next few years, change came fast, dramatically altering the dynamics of the Signal Corps and helping form the nucleus of a separate service. On May 20, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order transferring aviation from the Signal Corps to two agencies under the secretary of war: the Bureau of Aircraft Production, headed by John Ryan, and the Division of Military Aeronautics, directed by Maj Gen William Kenly. The War Department officially recognized these two Army agencies on May 24 of the same year; they comprised the Air Service of the Army. The Army Reorganization Act of 1920 made the Air Service a combatant arm of the Army, while the Air Corps Act of 1926 changed the name of the Air Service to the Air Corps. By then, the Air Corps had 919 officers and 8,725 enlisted personnel, and its "modern aeronautical equipment" consisted of 60 pursuit planes and 169 observation planes. Leading into the Second World War, the Air Corps underwent a number of organizational changes. The General Headquarters Air Force, officially organized Oct. 1, 1933, became operational and assumed command and control over all Air Corps tactical units two years later on March 1, 1935. As the nation geared up to enter the war, the General Headquarters Air Force was removed from the jurisdiction of the chief of the Air Corps and given separate status under the commander of the Army Field Forces on Nov. 19, 1940. Seven months later, air combat forces returned to the command of air leaders as Gen George Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, established the Army Air Forces on June 20, 1941, to control both the Air Corps and the Air Force Combat Command, formerly General Headquarters Air Force. Eight days before General Marshall's action, what would become Keesler Air Force Base was being plotted out on an 832-acre site in Biloxi, Miss., officially designated Air Corps Station No. 8, Aviation Mechanics School. Later that June, the War Department renamed the new base in honor of 2nd Lt. Samuel Keesler, a native of Greenwood, Miss., who died behind German lines after being shot down in air combat in the last months of World War I. As the United States geared up to enter the Second World War, the Army Air Forces desperately needed trained pilots and mechanics, and Keesler soon became a thriving technical training center. A few months after the United States entered World War II, a War Department reorganization March 9, 1942, created three autonomous Army commands: Army Ground Forces, Services of Supply (later, in 1943, Army Service Forces) and Army Air Forces. This reorganization dissolved the office of the chief of the Air Corps and the Air Force Combat Command, and merged all elements of the air arm into the Army Air Forces. The administrative reorganization did not affect the status of the Air Corps as a combatant arm of the Army. After World War II, the United States entered into a long period of Cold War with the Soviet Union, its former ally, and needed a stronger organizational structure for its military services. To strengthen the nation's defenses by streamlining the armed services, the Truman administration proposed a National Security Act in 1947 which became law on July 26 of that year. The act created a Department of the Air Force, headed by a secretary of the Air Force, and established the Air Force as a separate military branch. On Sept. 18, 1947, Stuart Symington became the first Secretary of the Air Force, and on Sept. 26, Gen. Carl Spaatz became the new service's first Chief of Staff. The new Air Force grew exponentially, and by fiscal year 1948 had approximately 374,000 activeduty members and 101,000 civilian personnel. Those numbers peaked at an all-time high in fiscal years 1953 and 1956 when the active-duty force climbed to roughly 980,000 and the civilian force crested at just over 400,000. Today, the Air Force's numbered strength closely resembles that of 1948 and stands at 348,058 active duty and 146,440 civilians. Although only 63 years old and considered the newest branch of the armed forces, the Air Force has established a rich and honorable heritage. From the early days of balloons and dirigibles to today's F-22 Raptor, it has evolved through time to become the most powerful, technologically advanced and feared fighting force in the world. As the Air Force has evolved, so too has Keesler, from training aircraft mechanics and recruits in 1941 to becoming the premier cyber, electronics and computer training center for the Air Force today. In the 21st Century, the 81st Training Wing, Keesler's host unit, is one of the largest technical training wings in the Air Force and in Air Education and Training Command. The 81st TRW has trained thousands of Airmen, as well as military members from the Navy, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and allied nations. It has also helped train civilian and military members in specialized skills ranging from comptroller, radio and radar systems maintenance, communications electronics, computer systems, air traffic control, weather, personnel, and command and control systems. From the time it was founded, the base that trains the Air Force to fight and win is at the forefront of helping the youngest service remain the strongest in the world. Jim Gildea, former 81st Training Wing historian now assigned to the 720th Special Tactics Group History Office, Hurlburt Field, Fla.; Susan Dawson, current 81st TRW historian; the Air Force Historical Research Agency and Air Force Personnel Center contributed to this report.