https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/8231e02b-e771-4c5e-b0d8-c2d33737a3ad This silent home movies shows Randolph Field, now known as Randolph Air Force Base, located at Schertz, 14.8 miles east-northeast of Downtown San Antonio, Texas. The base is now under the jurisdiction of the 902d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command (AETC). Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the United States Army Air Forces, and the Air Force during its entire existence. Randolph AFB is part of Joint Base San Antonio, an amalgamation of the United States Army Fort Sam Houston, the United States Air Force Randolph Air Force Base and Lackland Air Force Base, which were merged on 1 October 2010. Although barely half-completed, Randolph Field was dedicated 20 June 1930, with an estimated 15,000 people in attendance and a fly-by of 233 planes. The mayor of San Antonio, C.M. Chambers, formally presented the "West Point of the Air" to the Chief of the Air Corps, Maj. Gen. James Fechet.[8] Early in 1931, the School of Aviation Medicine from Brooks Field and the initial service squadron began relocating to Randolph. On 1 October, the Air Corps Training Center moved its headquarters from Duncan Field to Randolph and the principal movement of personnel followed. The flying school at Brooks Field closed on 20 October, followed by the school at March Field on 25 October, and the Primary Flying School opened at Randolph on 2 November 1931.[9] Between October 1931 and March 1935, more than 2,000 candidates reported for pilot training at Randolph, which began a new class every fourth months. 47% of them graduated as pilots and went on to advanced flying training. 75% of all primary training was conducted at Randolph Field. By May 1932 the field had 251 primary trainers, most the venerable Consolidated PT-3 "Trusty", but gradually supplemented by the Consolidated PT-11D, which became the Air Corps standard in the 1930s. In 1936, the famous Stearman PT-13 Kaydet began to appear in the skies over San Antonio. Basic training followed primary, at first with Douglas BT-1s and BT-2Bs. The Seversky BT-8 was later introduced as a basic trainer, but was soon deemed too difficult to handle and was replaced by North American BT-9s in 1935. Increased flying hours for cadets and an expanded syllabus resulted in a need for auxiliary fields within a ten-mile radius of Randolph to handle the volume of takeoffs and landings, and in 1932 Randolph was encircled by seven (clockwise from west to southwest): Dodd, Cade, Davenport, Marion, C.A. Krueger, Zuehl, and Martindale. Primary training continued at Randolph until September 1939 when expansion of the Air Corps forced it to contract primary out to civilian schools, and Randolph's mission shifted to basic pilot training only. The Air Corps Act of 1926 mandated that rated pilots comprise 90% of all commissioned officers of the Air Corps. Because of this requirement, nearly all new officers of the Air Corps underwent Randolph's rigorous pilot training program and, in combination with the architectural beauty of the base, Mayor Chamber's term West Point of the Air became the unofficial nickname for Randolph Field. A 1935 Hollywood film, West Point of the Air, was filmed on location at Randolph. In June 1941, the Air Corps became the Army Air Forces. Basic flying training at Randolph continued until March 1943, when the Army Air Forces Central Instructors School (CIS) was created. For the next two years, training instructors for ground schools, instructor pilots (including civilian contract instructors) for all three phases of flying training, and officers destined for administrative duties at air training command bases were trained by the CIS. Randolph produced 15,396 instructor graduates from this course before it moved to Waco Field in 1945. When the CIS moved to Waco Field it was replaced by the Army Air Forces pilot school, which specialized in transition training for B-29 bomber pilots, copilots and engineers. Primary pilot training returned to Randolph from Goodfellow Field in December 1945. Class 42-X gave 235 pilots their wings in an experimental course that sent pilot candidates directly to instructor training without first attending primary school, but though the course was considered a success, AAF Flying Training Command rejected its adoption. The Central Instructors School returned to Randolph in November 1945, was redesignated the AAF Pilot Instructors School, and relocated to Barksdale Field, Louisiana, on 12 March 1946. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAErOLkEuzk Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sun, 14 Jun 2026 05:35:01 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/8231e02b-e771-4c5e-b0d8-c2d33737a3ad All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.