San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Air shows keep San Antonians looking up
I was watching a show the other day about a town that didn't want an Air Force base near them, as the planes were too loud taking off and landing. It reminded me of the planes at Randolph AFB. They had regular air shows, and the public was invited. Our parents could park their cars near the runway, and as kids we could sit on top of the cars to watch. When it was over, we could go over to the planes and climb up and see the insides. It was so much fun, but it ended with the next war, maybe Vietnam, I don't remember. The last show I saw had a new jet plane that was black and had big, flat wings. We couldn't go near it, and it was so exciting. Could you find out any information about these shows and share it with us? I have such memories of San Antonio. I was born across the street from the Alamo and have lived here all my 83 years.
— Connie Fuller Air shows – exhibitions of flying and aircraft – date back to 1909, when “air meets” were held in Frankfurt, Germany, and Reims, France. It was just a year later when the first air show came to San Antonio as part of Spring Carnival, a forerunner of Fiesta.
The purpose of air shows has changed a lot over the last century-plus, from the promotion of interest in aviation to the support of the defense mission of the U.S. Air Force.
Early air shows involved civilian aviators often sponsored by the manufacturers of their aircraft, who wanted them to show off the planes’ speed and agility while competing for prizes. They took off from improvised airfields — the one in 1910 was based in Highland Park — and raced or performed stunts, after which they were free to take members of the public up for short rides.
AfterWorldWar II and the tension over the partitioning of Europe into areas of Soviet or U.S. influence that grew into the ColdWar, air shows moved to a mostly military context, where new aircraft could be shown off in flyover formation and on the ground in static displays.
The first of this kind at Randolph AFB (now Joint Base San Antonio – Randolph) took place on Aug. 1, 1946, in honor of Air Force Day – an hour-and-a-half show with bleachers installed for the visitors, important enough for Texas Gov. Beauford Jester to be present to open the event.
The following year, the air show was part of a larger celebration of the 40th birthday of the formation of the air service as part of the Army, and the city made a day of it, with Air Force movies shown at Municipal Auditorium, the actual air show at Randolph, a downtown parade and an Air Force Ball.
The event had grown into the largest in the nation when it was held Sept. 13, 1948, at Randolph for “five thrill-packed hours,” according to the San Antonio Express for that date.
Held at Randolph in celebration of the first birthday of an independent Air Force, the 1948 air show would bring in personnel from other area Air Force installations: Brooks, Kelly and Lackland. The program added a band concert and a football game between the Randolph Ramblers (covered here Dec. 4, 2010) and a Mexican military academy, as well as displays and demonstrations of Air Force equipment, including training simulators, weaponry and airplanes.
These were family-friendly events. Unlike the earlier air meets, which required tickets sold either for commercial profit or a benefit cause, the Air Force air shows were free to the public. In return, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer and their children might pay some attention to the military’s several messages: recruiting, the purpose of defense spending, the current missions of local military partners.
After 1949, the Randolph air shows were renamed to observe Armed Forces Day and held the third Saturday in May, created to replace separate Army, Navy and Air Force days. From then on, visitors to the Armed Forces Day Air Show and Open House might see not only the Air Force’s Wings of Blue parachuting team but the Army’s Golden Knights, the USAF Thunderbirds precision flying team or the Navy’s Blue Angels aerobatic team. The newest, high-performance military aircraft seen overhead and on the ground could be in use by any branch of the military.
After those first few years, 1946-1950, the Randolph air shows were held every other year or at longer intervals, due to budget constraints or changing priorities.
“Air shows have not been discontinued, they continue to this day,” said Lane Bourgeois, historian of the 12th Flight TrainingWing, headquartered at JBSA-Randolph. “People can still go up to the planes and take a close look at them, even get inside of them, as in the C-5 or
C-17 (USAF cargo aircraft).”
Randolph hosted air shows in 2011 and 2015. In 2017, the air show was moved to Port San Antonio, site of former Kelly
AFB. The events are “a little problematic at Randolph because of demonstration flying restrictions for safety,” Bourgeois said, “but we can still have air shows here if businesses too near the field agree to shut down for the duration.”
The Thunderbirds were last in San Antonio on May 13, flying over the city in honor of first responders, hospital workers and other caregivers involved with COVID-19 victims.
COVID-19 forced the cancellation of this year’s air show; the next one is set for April 2022, and will mark the Air Force’s
75th anniversary.
The unusual plane the reader remembers sounds like the SR-71, Bourgeois said.
Known as the “Blackbirds,” these high-speed, long-range reconnaissance aircraft were used jointly by the Air Force and NASA for aeronautical research into the effects of high speed and high altitude, among other purposes. The plane’s first flight was in late 1964, and one might have been shown at the Armed Forces Day Spectacular held May 8, 1965, where 30 different aircraft demonstrated speed capabilities.
There’s still a Blackbird in San Antonio, an ST-71A that arrived in June 1990 on the Parade Field at Lackland AFB, where it is one of many aircraft on display.
“It last served with the 9th ReconnaissanceWing at Beale AFB in California,” said Tracy English, 37th TrainingWing historian at JBSA-Lackland. “Of note, this bird clocked a whole lot of time covering the Yom KippurWar between Egypt and Israel in 1973. It spent the rest of its active life moving about the planet as one of the fastest, air-breathing aircraft.”
It’s one of the most popular planes on display at Lackland.
“Our visitors flock to this awesome bird to be photographed next to it,” English said. “I have even seen folks with really nice cars park in such a way that the photo gets both their vehicle and the SR-71.”