TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The United States Air Force celebrated its 70th birthday earlier this week. Tinker’s due diligence came in true fashion – cake and punch at the Club Sept. 18.
As celebrating history is part of tradition, 72nd Air Base Wing Commander Col. Kenyon K. Bell touched on some of the primary advocates for establishing a service dedicated to controlling air, space and cyberspace.
Gens. Billy Mitchell and Hap Arnold are commonly referred to as the father and architect of the Air Force, respectively, and played a significant role in ensuring that the Air Force was separate and distinct in the ability to command the skies. The urge to detach from the Army Air Corps and become its own branch of service came at the price of courts-martial, loud mouths and a five-star general commanding at a squadron level, but 70 years later, it seems a small price to pay.
“We have commanded the skies for many decades, and will continue to command the skies in the years to come,” Colonel Bell said. “Tinker has played an integral part in that, and I encourage you to be innovative in our thinking as we move into the next chapter of our United States Air Force.”
The installation’s base historian, Howard “Hooch” Halvorsen, piggybacked the commander as the event’s guest speaker. Halvorsen gave a brief 70-year history lesson, speaking to the magnitude of its global reach through the Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam War and Berlin Airlift.
“The entire Air Force today, give or take, flies with 5,032 aircraft,” Halvorsen added. “This branch has truly led the way since its inception, too, with Chuck Yeager piloting the first supersonic flight months after our birth, and becoming the first integrated service in 1948.” And, the force will continue to lead the way in years to come.
“We can sustain the aging fleet and continue to deter our enemies [here at Tinker, through the Sustainment Center]. That means it’s the most powerful service in the world, sustained by the best people in the world. Tinker keeps our planes in the air, which keeps the United States’ ability to win wars unparalleled to any adversary.”
President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 on July 26, which established the Department of the Air Force. It wouldn’t be until Sept. 18 of that year when the first Secretary of the Air Force would be sworn in, thus officially forming the Air Force as one of the seven uniformed military services.