Qualla: Randolph Air Force Base

Randolph Air Force Base: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Service Depicted: Air ForceCamera Operator: O.J. SANCHEZ, Public domain. First Lieutenant Harold Clark was a dispatch officer in the motor pool at Kelly Field when he heard that the Army Air Corps needed a new training base near San Antonio. Before enlisting for World War I, Clark had trained as an architect. On the back of old dispatch sheets, he began sketching an idea that no one had tried before: a circular airfield, with parallel runways aligned to the prevailing winds and all facilities arranged by function in four quadrants between them. No more landing approaches over hangars. No more buildings where they did not belong. Clark brought his drawings to General Frank P. Lahm's executive officer, who brought him straight to the planning board. The design was approved on August 16, 1928, and what followed was the largest construction project undertaken by the Army since the Panama Canal.

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Image: Service Depicted: Air ForceCamera Operator: O.J. SANCHEZ | Public domain

Randolph Air Force Base: An Air City from Scratch

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Signaleer at English Wikipedia., Public domain. Clark's original circular concept was refined extensively by George B. Ford, a city planner and civilian advisor to the War Department's Quartermaster Corps. Ford's final layout added a dramatic entrance boulevard terminating at Washington Circle, with three notable buildings pos...

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Image: The original uploader was Signaleer at English Wikipedia. | Public domain

Randolph Air Force Base: The Captain on the Naming Committee

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nzeemin, CC BY-SA 3.0. The base bears the name of Captain William Millican Randolph, a native of Austin and a graduate of Texas A&M. On February 17, 1928, Randolph was killed in the crash of a Curtiss AT-4 Hawk during takeoff from Gorman Field, Texas. At the time of his death, he was serving on the ver...

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Image: Nzeemin | CC BY-SA 3.0

Randolph Air Force Base: From Biplanes to B-29s

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos, Public domain. The Air Corps Act of 1926 mandated that 90 percent of all commissioned Air Corps officers be rated pilots. That requirement funneled nearly every new officer through Randolph's training program. By 1936, the Stearman PT-13 Kaydet was appearing in the skies over San Antonio. When ...

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Image: U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos | Public domain

Randolph Air Force Base: The Jet Age and Beyond

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit RAFB Public Affairs office, Public domain. Randolph became Randolph Air Force Base on January 13, 1948, when the newly independent Air Force took over. Through the Korean War, the base trained crews for B-29 Superfortresses, ultimately producing 21,519 crew members. The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star served as the workhorse ...

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Image: RAFB Public Affairs office | Public domain

Randolph Air Force Base: A Landmark in the Round

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos, Public domain. The Randolph Field Historic District is a National Historic Landmark encompassing 350 contributing buildings across 405 acres, most constructed between 1929 and 1932. From the air, the layout remains unmistakable: a perfect circle of roads at the center, radiating outward between...

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Image: U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos | Public domain