Randolph Airpower Community Council - Rapco

07/04/2021

06/23/2021

June 20, 1930: Randolph Field, Tex., the “West Point of the Air,” is dedicated. A special date for us, as Randolph is home to our beloved headquarters.

12/30/2020

📡⚡ 🛰️🌐 🛸 In this commentary, a retired four-star Air Force general makes the case for why San Antonio should be selected to host U.S. Space Command.

In this commentary, a retired four-star Air Force general makes the case for why San Antonio should be selected to host U.S. Space Command.

11/05/2020

🛫 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗝𝗕𝗦𝗔 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗽𝗵 𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 ‘𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲’ 🛬

Universal City demolishes seven homes as part of first-ever deal with government entities...

05/23/2020

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2020/05/22/world-war-ii-era-airplanes-to-fly-over-san-antonio-on-memorial-day/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=ksat12&fbclid=IwAR2sqr-vxU-oDRaobX429ZEOwSm774K6N8wv9RF2VCdTEuzrqMr6y9KZbjo

Lewis Air Legends and the City of San Antonio will put on the 30-minute display starting at noon on Memorial Day.

03/25/2020

JANUARY 13, 2020

📽< ▏Military Aviation History

Once known as the "Showplace of the Air Force", Randolph Air Force Base is located in the northeast corner of San Antonio. Gary Boyd, command historian, and Bill Manchester, director of the Airman Heritage Museum, gave a tour the base and shared the history of military aviation in the area.

C-SPAN’s Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) made a stop in their “2020 LCV Cities Tour” in San Antonio, Texas, from January 11-15, 2020, to feature the history and literary life of the community. Working with the Spectrum cable local affiliate, they visited literary and historic sites where local historians, authors, and civic leaders were interviewed. The history segments air on American History TV (AHTV) on C-SPAN3 and the literary events/non-fiction author segments air on Book TV on C-SPAN2.

Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio was once known as the 'Showplace of the Air Force'. Gary Boyd, Command Historian, and Bill Manchester, Director of the Airman Heritage Museum, give a tour the…

03/24/2020

▃🏯▃ Bldg 100, the 𝑻𝒂𝒋 𝑴𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒍.

03/17/2020

☲✪☲ 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 ➣ Friday, 17 March 1961

Air Training Command received its first T-38A (serial number 59-1954)

A lone T-38 Talon streaked over Austin, Texas, headed for Randolph Air Force Base (AFB) near San Antonio. After signaling his approach to Randolph with a sonic boom, pilot Lt. Col. Arthur W. Buck flew low over the base and landed Air Training Command's (ATC's) first supersonic jet trainer. This aircraft was the first of over 1,000 T-38s the U. S. Air Force would order to upgrade its pilot training programs. The Talon derived from a military aircraft that Northrop Corporation's Norair Division had developed as a private venture in the early 1950s, a lightweight, supersonic aircraft featuring advanced avionics and structural innovations. Later in the decade, the Air Force became interested in a trainer version of the same aircraft to replace its aging T-33, so the arrival of the T-38 at Randolph, headquarters for Air Training Command, was long awaited. The T-38 would bridge a "performance gap" in the T-33 that limited the ability of Air Training Command to train fighter pilots for the growing inventory of supersonic aircraft in the U.S. Air Force. The Talon, equipped with two jet engines capable of speeds up to 805 mph, arrived at Randolph with great promise. As Lt. Col. Buck, T-38 project officer for Air Training Command, wrote later: We believe that as a result of the new ATC pilot training program the first-line units will get a man who can become combat-ready in any weapon system with less training and with a higher degree of flying safety than has ever been possible before. This should reduce the units' training time, costs, and the number of two-seat combat-type aircraft that are required. Training on the T-38 started only after months of testing, as flight instructors developed a new training regimen and worked out bugs associated with the new aircraft. Meanwhile, phase-in of the T-38s continued over the next few years as ATC included more of the supersonic trainers in its several flying training wings located at other bases, mainly in the Southwest. By January 1967 the Talon had logged 1,000,000 training hours in Air Training Command. At about the same time, the air war in Vietnam had begun to escalate, creating a demand for more pilots.

During the 11-year production period, ATC took delivery of 1,114 T-38s.

Citation:

The Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat, twinjet supersonic jet trainer. It was the world's first supersonic trainer and is also the most produced. The T-38 remains in service as of 2019[update] in several air forces.

02/21/2020

Sgt. 1st Class Javier Jaguar Gutierrez, one of two soldiers killed more than a week ago in Afghanistan in what the military has described as an "insider" attack, arrived home Thursday in San Antonio. Flown to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, he was greeted with a ramp ceremony and taken by hearse pa...