Brooks Army Air Field

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FormNo. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74)UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF mSTORIC PLACESINVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORMSEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOWTO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMSTYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS

DNAMEHISTORIC Hangar 9 (Brooks Air Force Base)ANDIOR COMMON Edward H.' White II Museum

BLOCATIONSTREET & NUMBER Inner Circle' Road, Brooks Air Foree Base

_NOT FORPUBLICATIONCITY. TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 23an Antonio _ VIc:INITY OFSTATE CODE Bexar CODEOUNTY48exas 029

DCLASSIFICATIONCATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT US~'

_DISTRICT _J(PUBLIC XOCCUPIED -AGRICULTURE !_MUSEUMXBUILDING(S) _PRIVATE _UNOCCUPIED ~COMMERCIAL _PARK_STRUCTURE _BOTH _WORK IN PROGRES~ _EDUCATIONAL _PRIVATE RESIDE_SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE _ENTERTAINMENT -RELIGIOUS_OBJECT _IN PROCESS .x.YES: RESTRICTED _GOVERNMENT _SCIENTIFIC

_BEING CONSIDERED _ YES: UNRESTRICTED _INDUSTRI4.L _TRANSPORTATION_NO _MI.LITARY _OTHER:

DOWNER OF PROPERTY Contact: Base Commander, Brooks Air ForceJohn Bullard, Base HistorianNAME u.S. A;i~.ForceSTFjEET &. NUMBER The PentagonCITY. TOWN STATEWashington _ VICINITY OF D.C.

IILOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTIONCOURTHOUSE.REGISTRY OF DEEDS,ETC. Offi'ce of the County ClerkSTREET & NUMBER Bexar County CourthouseCITY. TOWN, STATE

t Houston TexasI I I REPRE SENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYSTITLETexas State Historical Survey; National Register of Historic Pla

DATE191'0; 1970 x._FEDERAL XSTATE _COUNTY _LOCAL

(D,EPOSITORY FORSURVEY RECORDS Texas State Historical Oommd s'sdon; N ati ona l R eg is terCITY. TOWN STATEAustin; Washington Texas; D.C.


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DDESCRIPTIONCONDITION CHECK ONE CHECK ONE

X ORIGINAL SITE_MOVED DATE _

x..EXCELLENT_GOOD_FAIR

_DETERIORATED_ RUINS_UNEXPOSED

_UNALTERED~LTERED

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Hangar 9 is the lone survivor of 16 similar structures erecteat Brooks Field early in 1918. Facing generally northeast-southwesthey formed a segmental arc flanking the north side of a northeast-southwest dirt runway, which today is covered with close-clipped gOver the years the Army removed the old edifices one by one and evtually announced:J in the 1960's, that the last one, Hangar 9, wouldbe demolished as well. At that time aviation"enthusiasts and theBexar County Historical Society asked for and received Air Force pmission to restore the hangar to the service's safety specificationSan Antonio citizens and others raised the necessary funds, saw thwork carried out, and in 1968 dedicated the refurbished structure,in honor of Astronaut Edward H. White II, as an aviation museum.The hangar is rectangular shaped and two stories high with apitched, gambrel roof supported by wood trusses still held togetheby the original bolts. White-painted weatherboarding sheathes theside=:s,~d ends, except where doors and windows stand. Affixed toeight-bay-long north side is a center-placed, four-bay-long, one-bwide, flat-roofed, white-painted, frame wing. An original fixtureit now houses museum offices and restrooms and is accessible fromexterior by a single door in the center of the north wall and fromaircraft storage area by two widely spaced, single doors in theh ang ar ' .sn or th w all .Except where interrupted by the north wing,ea.ch bay of theeight-bay-long north and south sides of the hangar is naturally li

by a two-tiered, triple window set in a wood frame and displayingsix-over-six sashes. The middle four bays on the north side haveupper.-level windows. All six wing bays have single-tiered, triplewindows with six-over-six sashes.At each end of Hangar 9, four massive, approximately 16-foot-long, white-painted, board-and-batten, sliding doors stand on flatsteel rails and hang from a double, metal track that extends somefeet beyond each side of the building to rest on buttressed wood pThis system allows the hangar to be fully open at each end. Alsoeach end, one of the large hangar doors has a smaller, standard-sizboard-and-batten door for easy individual access when the larger dare shut. Two widely separated, single:J w ood doors provide additioentry on the south side.Inside the hangar the walls are unsealed and the wood trussesexposed. The floor is a concrete slab (original), and upon it restnumerous historical aViation exhibits, including a single-engineC urt is s bi pl an e.


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IIIGNIFICANCEPERIOD AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK At)lD JUSTIFY BElOW

_PREHISTORIC _ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC _COMMUNITY PLANNING _LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE _RELIGION_1400-1499 _ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _CONSERVATION _LAW _SCIENCE_1500-1599 _AGRICULTURE _ECONOMICS _LITERATURE _SCULPTURE_1600-1699 _ARCHITECTURE _EDUCATION x._MILITARY _SOCIAUHUMANITARIA_1700-1799 _ART _ENGINEERING _MUSIC _THEATER_1800-1899 _COMM ERCE _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT -,-PHILOSOPHY _ TRAN-5PORTATIONx._,900- _COMMUNICATIONS _INDUSTRY _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT _OTHER (SPECIFY)

_INVENTION

SPECIFIC DATES 1918-1945 BUILDER/ARCHITECT Thomas and Harmon CO.STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The only survivor 'among,several hangars that"the'U.S. ArmySignal Corps' Aviati.on--Section'built' on its-hastily" established WorWar.Itrainingfields~,Hangar 9 is,the' Nation "s oldest Air Jiforceaircraft storage and' F epair facility.. Er-e'ctiedh 1918 and recentlrestored to serve as an aviation museum, the wood-trussed, white..painted, frame structure sfmbolizes both early Army efforts to crean effective air arm and the rapid progress made toward that goalunder the impetus of war.When the United States entered the First World War in April1917, the Army had only 35 pilots and about 200 training planes, nof which mounted weapons. In May, however, the National DefenseCouncil created an Aircraft Production Board, and in the next 18m on th s A me ri ca n m an u r ac t. ur -e r- ar od uc ed a lm os t 14 .,O O:O 'p la he s a nd 4 2aircraft engines. Meanwhile the Aviation Section recruited thousaof potential pilots and constructed or leased 18 flying fieHis atwhich to train them.Brooks Air Force Base--originally known as Gosport Field andlater-as Brooks Field--was one of the new training sites~ It dIffsomewhat from the others, however, for when it opened in March 191its staff trained new instructors in the experimental Gosport systof teaching flying. Devised earlier by the British, the method waadopted subsequently for all U.S. Army flight-training centers. Aturning out scores of World War I pilots and new instructors, Brooin mid-19l9 temporarily became a center for balloon-flight instructbut 3 years later heavier-than-air craft returned. The Army madeBrooks a primary flying school, and during the next 9 years, 5,573students reported here for pilot's training. A partial list of thfield's instructors and students, many of whom have a direct associ

with Hangar 9 and all of whom are memorialized by it, reads like ahonor roll of pioneer military aviators. Included are: ClaireChennault, Thomas D. White, Jimmy Doolittle, John Macready, WilliamOcker, Charles A. Lindbergh, and Nathan F. Twining.History

When the United States entered the First World War in April 1the Army lacked an effective air arm. Responsibility for aerial op

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Form No.1 0-300a(Rev. 10-74)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NA nONAL REGISTER OF mSTORIC PLACESINVENTOR Y -- NOMINA nON FORM

Hangar- 9Brooks AirCONTINUATION SHEET Force Base ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE onetions lay with the Signal Corps' Aviation Section, which had only35 pilots and about 200 training planes of dubious military valueTrue, only a little more than 13 years had lapsed since the Wrighbrothers' first successful manned flight in a powered airplane, bas early as 1914 France had boasted 171 trained pilots and 260 pland Germany, according to some reports, had manufactured more tha500 military aircraft. The lagging condition of American militaryaviation was due in part to lack of money. In 1898 the War Deparawarded Samuel P. Langley $50,000 to develop a man-carrying versiof his powered glider, and in 1907 the Board of Ordnance and Fortcation ordered construction of a plane that could carry two peoplat a speed of 40 miles per hour, but not until 1911 did Congressa specific aviation budget. It allotted the Army $125,000 withwhich to purchase planes and conduct aeronautical experiments. Tappropriation enabled the corps to establish its first flying sch(at College Park, Md.), but identical sums the next 2 years did nallow expansion of the program. Although Congress increased subsappropriations, these remained woefully short of the amounts needeto keep up with European military aviation. One official Air Forhistory describes the service's situation in 1917 as bleak:

Little or nothing was on hand, either of planes, fields,instructors, curricula; or--most important.of all--experience that would indiGate what was needed. TheUnited States had never tra~ned an aviator for actualcombat overseas; and there was no one who knew whatkind of instruction was necessary for radioloperators,photographers, or enlisted personnel.

The official history might have added that the United States alsolacked an air doctrine. No decision had been made about what roleaircraft should play in warfare. Should their mission be observatonly, or did it include offense and defense?Once it became clear that the Nation's difficulties with Germwould result in a declaration of war, military and civilian offici

alike moved to correct the deficiencies in American military aviatThree days before Congress approved the war declaration, the NatioAdvisory Committee for Aeronautics, a research agency entirely sep

1Quoted in Carroll V. Glines, The Compact History of the UnitStates Air Force (New York, 1963), 72.


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Form No. 10-300a(Rev. 10- 74)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENTOl- THE INTERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NA TIONAL REGISTER OF mSTORIC PLACESINVENTOR Y -- NOMINA TION FORM

Hangar 9Brooks AirCONTI NUATION SHEET Force Base IT EM N UM BE R B PAGE tworate from the Signal Corps, asked American aircraft manufacturerswhat kind of reconnaissance planes they could provide and in whatquantity. The replies proved inconclusive, but nevertheless in Mathe National Defense Council created an Aircraft Production Boardwhich promptly announced that the United States could build at lea3,500 aircraft in its first year of production. Congress, meanwhicame under increasing pressure from the civilian Aero Club of AmerSecretary of War Newton D. Baker, and finally from President WoodrWilson to provide funds for a large fleet of planes. In July thevoted $640 million for an air force. Many companies, especially iautomobile industry, now hastened to join the Curtiss Company, BoeVought, and others in aircraft production. Two noted automobileengineers, Jesse G. Vincent and J. G. Hill, developed plans fora l ig ht -w ei gh t, v - B "Liberty" engine, which they later converted t12 cylinders. By October 19lB U.S. factories were turning out"Liberties" at the rate of 4,200 a month, and by Armistice Day totaircraft engine production equaled about 42,000. Aircraft productfor this same period totaled almost 14,000.

In the meantime, the Army, having established its first tactiair unit in 1916 with only eight planes, recruited men for flighttraining, and thousands of would-be pilots volunteered. Selectingonly about half of these, the Army sent them first to B weeks ofground school at one of eight large engineering colleges and thenflight school at one of 18 leased or hastily constructed flying fiOne of these specially built training centers was Gosport Field, lBrooks Field and now Brooks Air Force Base, near San Antonio, Tex.Although nearly all the installation's original structures have berazed, original Hangar 9, erected in 19lB, remains as a symbol ofthese early Army efforts to make effective military use of the air

The War Department chose San Antonio as a training center becof its favorable climate, good water supply, and convenient transptation facilities. Happy at the prospect of the economic boost than air base would give the community, the San Antonio Chamber of Cmerce assembled an B73-acre tract south of the city and offered itas a site for the training field. The Army accepted, and militaryand civilian officials broke ground on December 8, 1917. Thomas aHarmon Company began constructing the facilities immediately afterward. The first commanding officer, Maj. Henry C. Pratt, arrivedFebruary 16, 19l~ and the first aircraft landed here on March 28,

In the field's first few years, the Army utilized it for varipurposes. During the war a primary mission of the installation wa

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Form No.1 0-300a(Rev. 10-74)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF mSTORIC PLACESINVENTOR Y -- NOMINA TION FORM

Hangar 9Brooks AirC ON TIN UA TI ONS HE ET F or ce B as e ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE threetraining flight instructors in the Gosport System of teaching flyDevised earlier by the British, the method was adopted eventuallyall U.S. Army flight-training centers. Among other things, the Gprogram required that an individual student remain with the sameinstructor throughout his primary flight training. This system bcame so closely identified with the San Antonio base, that for sotime it was known informally as Gosport Field. Its formal name,Brooks Field, memorialized San Antonio pilot Sidney J. Brooks, Jrwho died in a crash at Kelly Field in 1917. In May 1919, a few mafter World War I ended,the Army redesignated Brooks Field a balloand airship school. A now-demolished balloon hangar was erected,for some 3 years the field provided the setting for training lighthan-air-craft pilots and ground crews.

Meanwhile in 1920 Congress passed the Army Reorganization Actwhich established the Air Service as a combatant arm of the line,coordinate with the Infantry, Cavalry, and others. The new lawauthorized 1,500 officers and 16,000 enlisted men for air duty.represented a reduction in the number of personnel from wartime,even this figure was never realized in the 1920's due to lack ofStill, creation of the Air Service represented an important stepforward for military aviation.

Taf

As part of the reorganization effort, in 1922 the Army choseBrooks Field as the site for a primary flying school. Heavier-thaair craft returned, and the next 9 years proved one of the most sinificant periods in the post's history. More than 5,500 studentsreported here for training, and a partial list of the field's insttors and students, many of whom have a direct association with Han9, reads like an honor roll of pioneer military aviators. Includeare: Claire Chennault, Thomas D. White, Jimmy Doolittle, John MacWilliam C. Ocker, Charles A. Lindbergh, and Nathan F. Twining. Duthis same decade airmen at Brooks also conducted the world's firstseries of paratroop experiments. Mass air drops in 1929 demonstrathe practicality of tactical paratroop warfare.In 1931 the Army relocated Brooks' primary flight school atnearby Kelly Field and assigned an aerial observation group to BroDuring World War II, pilot-training returned and continued after twar for 14 years in the form of reserve activities. In 1959 the AForce relocated its School of Aviation Medicine at Brooks, and inofficials dedicated anew $40 million complex of buildings that toform the nucleus of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicinas well as headquarters for the Aerospace Medical Division.

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Form No.1 0-300aIRev.10-74)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OFTHE INTERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF mSTORIC PLACESINVENTOR Y -- NOMINATION FORM

Hangar 9Brooks AirCONTI NUATION SHEET Force Base ITEM NUMBER 9 PAGE oneBullard, John W., "History of Brooks AFB, 19l7-l975~ Mimeographe(San Antonio: Brooks Air Force Base, n.d.)Chandler, Charles deF., and Frank P. Lahm, How Our Army Grew WingAirmen and Aircraft Before 1914 (New York: The Ronald PressCompany, 1943.)Glines, Carroll V., The Compact History of the United States Air(New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1963)."History of Brooks Field" in Brooks Field Yearbook (August 1944),32-33.Holley, I.B., Jr., Id~as and Weapons: Exploitation of the AerialWeapon by the United States During World War I (New Haven:Yale University Press, 1953).United States Air Force News Release No. 68-476, November 7, 1968Office of Information, Aerospace Medical Division, Air ForceSystems Command, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas.


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IJMA}OR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES(See continuation sheet.)

DiJGEOGRAPHICAL DATA less than one acre.ACREAGE OF NOMINATEO PROPERTY _UTM REFERENCES

A L L . . f J W ! 5 " , 4 1 o t l , o l 13,Zltt'lO,~,O'ZONE EASTING NORTHINGCLJ I I' I I I ! I I f 'I ( I , f I

BL_j I I , IZONE EASTING

D~ II, II, I , INORTHINGI I , I I I

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION

The. b.oundary of the nominated property coincides :with a line,that extends entirely around Hangar 9 at a distance of 30 feet f'rtheplane'of ,the main b'Lock t s northeast and southwest 'end'wallsand 45 feet from the main blQck's northernmost and southernmostside walls.LISTALL STATESAND COUNTIES FORP~OPERTIESOVERLAPPINGSTATEORCOUNTYBOUNDARIE~

STATE CODE COUNTY .[CODE

STATE CODE COUNTY CODE

mFORM PREPARED BYNAME/TITLE George R. Adams, Managing EditorORGANIZ~TION ," " DATEAmenican Association, for" State and Local History 'April 1976STREET & NUMBER1400 Eighth Avenue South '. :TELEPHONE 615-242-558CITY OR TOWN'NashvilLe Tennessee

IDSTATE HISTORIC PRESERVATJ;0N OFFICER CERT[FICATIONTHE EVALUAT.EDSIGNIFICANCEOFTHIS PROPERTYWITHIN T!iE STATE IS:

NATIONAL_ STATE,__ , LOCAL__As the designated State Historic Preservatio,nOfficer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665). Ihereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it ~as been evaluated according to thecriteria and procedures set tortb by the National P~rkService, ' ,

FEDERAL REPRE~ENTATIVE SIGNATURE

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Brooks Army Air Field