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Maxwell's Air University Celebrates 60 Years

Posted on: Friday, 17 March 2006, 21:00 CST

By Topher Sanders, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.

Mar. 17--Happy birthday, Air University. The organization that houses many of the U.S. Air Force's professional education programs and is located at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base turned 60 on Sunday.

Although the university's official age is 60, the school's mission has existed at Maxwell for more than 70 years, historians said.

"Air Corps Tactical School, which is Air University's predecessor, was the intellectual center of the pre-World War II Army Air Forces," said Silvano Wueschner, director of Air University's Office of History. "Maxwell was where the military came up with aerial doctrine, tactics and strategies that they later employed in World War II."

Of the 320 Army Air Forces generals serving on the day WWII ended, 261 were products of Maxwell's Air Corp Tactical School.

Air University grew out of Air Corp Tactical School and continues to produce military leaders to fight America's wars, Wueschner said.

Since 1946, Air University has grown from just the Air War College and Air Command and Staff College to being the home of the College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education, the Ira C. Eaker College for Professional Development, the School for Advanced Air and Space Studies, the Community College of the Air Force and Noncommissioned Officer Academy.

Historian Jerome Ennels said the organization is more important to the Air Force now than it ever has been.

"They've taken added more than just professional development," he said. "It's the organization the Air Force turns to when they are considering policy changes regarding the employment of air power."

Wueschner said the university also has continued to foster military relationships with the international community by providing education opportunities for foreign officers.

Air University trains about 250 international officers each year, said Col. John Ide, director of Air University's International Officer School.

With increased emphasis on teaching air force officers foreign languages and advancing technologies like web and video conferencing, Wueschner said the university's future is bright.

"We've gone to cyberspace for training and keeping people current with new advancements," he said.

"A person in the battlefield at Baghdad can take continuing education or he can take a course from Squadron Officer School. Training can now go on globally because they can plug into the central brain here at Maxwell and look for answers."

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Source: Montgomery Advertiser

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