Randolph AFB was named after an Aggie?

469 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 9 hrs ago by 12th Man
Roc96
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I live five miles from it, but never knew.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Gx27wu5jj/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Roc
CyanideJenkins
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That's pretty cool. I grew up right near there and never knew that. Thanks for posting.
aggiejim70
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Interesting that two Air Bases some seventy miles apart
are named for Aggies. What is now the Austin airport is named for a Aggie. Lyndon Johnson had a lot to do with that.
The person that is not willing to fight and die, if need be, for his country has no right to life.

James Earl Rudder '32
January 31, 1945
Jock 07
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Not Texas but Schriever SFB is also named for an Ag. He was actually still alive and at the renaming ceremony when it switched from Falcon AFB (Falcatraz) to Schriever AFB. Only time the namesake of a base was alive and able to attend the renaming ceremonies as far as I'm tracking.
OldArmyCT
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Don't forget NAS Carswell, formerly Carswell AFB, in Ft Worth.
ABATTBQ87
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From "The Book of Aggie Lists," edited by James Woodall

1. Bergstrom Air Force Base / Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (Austin, TX)
  • The Namesake: Captain John August Earl Bergstrom (Class of 1929).
  • Service & Sacrifice: Served as an administrative officer with the 19th Bombardment Group stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines. He was killed on December 8, 1941, during Japanese air strikes, becoming the first native Austinite killed in action in World War II.
  • History: Originally opened as Del Valle Army Air Base in 1942, it was renamed Bergstrom Army Air Field in March 1943 (later Bergstrom AFB). Following base closure in the 1990s, the land was repurposed into Austin's primary commercial airport.
2. Carswell Air Force Base (Fort Worth, TX)
  • The Namesake: Major Horace Seaver Carswell Jr. (Attended Class of 1938; graduated TCU 1939).
  • Service & Sacrifice: Pilot with the 374th Bombardment Squadron. On October 26, 1944, over the South China Sea, his B-24 was severely damaged while attacking Japanese shipping. He flew the crippled aircraft to China and ordered his crew to bail out. Because one crewman's parachute was destroyed, Major Carswell chose to stay at the controls and attempt a crash landing to save him, perishing in the attempt. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
  • History: Fort Worth Army Air Field was renamed Carswell Air Force Base in 1948. Today, the installation operates as Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.
3. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (Tucson, AZ)
  • The Namesake (A&M Connection): Second Lieutenant Samuel H. Davis (Attended Class of 1917).
  • Service & Sacrifice: A World War I Army Air Service pilot. Lieutenant Davis was tragically killed in an aircraft crash at Carlstrom Field, Florida, on December 28, 1921.
  • History: The base was dedicated in 1925 jointly in honor of Davis and First Lieutenant Oscar Monthan (a Tucson native killed in a 1924 crash in Hawaii). Today, it hosts Air Combat Command units and the military's aircraft boneyard (309th AMARG).
4. Easterwood Airport (College Station, TX)
  • The Namesake: Lieutenant Jesse L. Easterwood (Class of 1909).
  • Service & Sacrifice: A World War I naval aviator who flew operational missions with both British Royal Naval Air Service and U.S. Navy units. He died in a plane crash in 1919 while serving as a naval test pilot.
  • History: Located on the campus grounds and owned by the college system, the airfield was formally established and named in his honor in May 1940.
5. Gary Air Force Base (San Marcos, TX)
  • The Namesake: Second Lieutenant Arthur Edward Gary (Class of 1940).
  • Service & Sacrifice: Served as a B-17 co-pilot with the 19th Bombardment Group. He was killed on the ground at Clark Field, Philippines, during the Japanese air attacks on December 8, 1941, making him the first military casualty from Hays County, Texas, in World War II.
  • History: Activated in 1942 as San Marcos Army Air Field, it was renamed Gary Air Force Base on May 10, 1953. After base deactivation in 1956, parts of the facility became the Gary Job Corps Center and San Marcos Regional Airport.
6. Gray Air Force Base / Robert Gray Army Airfield (Killeen, TX)
  • The Namesake: Captain Robert Manning Gray (Attended Class of 1941; also attended Tarleton).
  • Service & Sacrifice: Flew as the pilot of B-25 Bomber No. 3 (Whiskey Pete) on the famous Doolittle Raid over Tokyo on April 18, 1942. After surviving the raid and bailing out over China, Captain Gray was assigned to the CBI Theater, where he was killed in action over Assam, India, on October 18, 1942.
  • History: Established in 1948 near Fort Hood as Robert Gray Air Force Base, the facility was later transferred to the Army in 1963 and today serves as Robert Gray Army Airfield, supporting joint military and civilian operations.
7. James Connally Air Force Base (Waco, TX)
  • The Namesake: Colonel James T. Connally (Class of 1932).
  • Service & Sacrifice: A career Army Air Forces leader who piloted air mail in 1934 and commanded bomber units during World War II. On May 29, 1945, while flying as an observer in a B-29 formation attacking Yokohama, Japan, his aircraft was struck by anti-aircraft fire and exploded.
  • History: Originally opened in 1942 as Waco Army Airfield, it was renamed James Connally Air Force Base in 1949. Following deactivation, the site became Texas State Technical College (TSTC) Waco and TSTC Waco Airport.
8. Ragsdale Field (Camp Coleman / San Angelo, TX)
  • The Namesake: Captain William Pleasant Ragsdale Jr. (Class of 1933).
  • Service & Sacrifice: Served with the Air Transport Command. Captain Ragsdale was killed in action in 1942 while piloting a transport aircraft, making him one of the earliest ATC officer casualties of World War II.
  • History: In 1943, local civic leaders and base officials announced the naming of the newly constructed primary flight training facility near San Angelo as Ragsdale Field in his honor. However, a War Department policy directive restricting the formal naming of sub-bases after war casualties led the Army to officially designate it as Camp Coleman / Coleman Field, though local historical records and lists maintain the original Ragsdale Field name.
9. Randolph Air Force Base (Universal City / San Antonio, TX)
  • The Namesake: Captain William Millican Randolph (Class of 1916).
  • Service & Sacrifice: A native of Austin and pioneer Army aviator. Served as the adjutant of the School of Aviation Medicine at Brooks Field. Captain Randolph was killed on February 17, 1928, when his AT-4 aircraft crashed on takeoff near Gorman, Texas.
  • History: Known famously as the "West Point of the Air," Randolph Field was dedicated in June 1930. Today, Randolph Air Force Base forms part of Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) and remains a primary center for Air Force pilot training.
10. Schriever Air Force Base (Colorado Springs, CO)
  • The Namesake: General Bernard Adolph Schriever (Class of 1931).
  • Service & Sacrifice: Flew combat missions in the Pacific during World War II, but is best known as the "Father of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Program." He spearheaded the development of America's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems (Atlas, Titan, Minuteman) and military satellite programs.
  • History: Originally Falcon Air Force Base, it was officially renamed Schriever Air Force Base on June 5, 1998, marking the rare distinction of a military installation being named after a living person. In 2021, it was re-designated as Schriever Space Force Base.
11. Woodruff Air Force Base / Field
  • Historical Context: Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. Woodruff (Class of 1917) was an early Army Air Corps pioneer and pilot. While several training strips and auxiliary landing fields across Texas and the South during WWII were locally designated as "Woodruff Field" in regional flight logbooks and cadet lists, it did not transition into a permanent active-duty Air Force Base post-war, remaining an auxiliary field designation in historical lists.
CanyonAg77
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General Schriever is probably the most important Aggie, who served in the U.S. Military, and that no one has ever heard of.
ABATTBQ87
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CanyonAg77 said:

General Schriever is probably the most important Aggie, who served in the U.S. Military, and that no one has ever heard of.

from my research notes as I build my Chronicles of WWII Aggies

Gen. Bernard A. "Bennie" Schriever From Fifth Air Force Combat Pilot to "Father of the Air Force Space and Missile Program"
Schriever, a German immigrant who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1923, earned his degree at A&M in 1931 and was commissioned in the Field Artillery before transferring to the Air Corps in 1933. After a stint flying for Northwest Airlines in the late 1930s, he returned to active duty, earned a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from Stanford in 1942, and joined the 19th Bombardment Group in the Southwest Pacific, flying combat missions as a B-17 pilot. In January 1943, he moved into engineering and maintenance leadership with the Fifth Air Force Service Command, eventually rising to chief of staff and then commanding officer of advanced headquarters for the Far East Air Service Command, supporting operations from New Guinea through the Philippines to Okinawa. He left the war a colonel. Nearly a decade later, as head of the Western Development Division, Schriever directed the crash development of the nation's first intercontinental ballistic missiles Atlas, Titan, Thor, and Minuteman earning him the title "Father of the Air Force's ballistic missile and space program." Colorado's Falcon Air Force Base was renamed Schriever Air Force Base in his honor in 1998, while he was still living. The Book of Aggie Lists adds that Falcon Air Force Base was officially renamed Schriever Air Force Base on June 5, 1998 a rare case of an installation named for a living person and was re-designated Schriever Space Force Base in 2021. Source: Texas Aggie, July 15, 1943 (Image 3); April 17, 1944 (Image 3); November 22, 1946 (Page 2); Air Force official biography, af.mil; National Museum of the U.S. Air Force; Wikipedia, "Bernard Schriever" class-year affiliation per AFS/A&M record, not this project's newspaper archive. Installation history added 10Oct2026 from The Book of Aggie Lists, ed. James Woodall.

Senior Bio 1931 Longhorn

Jock 07
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Indeed not only arguably the most important Ag but also quite possibly one of the most consequential USAF GOs ever. Fun fact, his grandson is an O-6 in the USSF and was the CC of 2 SOPS (now 2 NWS) at Schriever SFB.
12th Man
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"and was the CC of 2 SOPS (now 2 NWS) at Schriever SFB."

Everything from "CC" til "at" in the above copied sentence fragment needs translation, please.
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