Brooks Air Force Base

Brooks Air Force Base Brooks Field
San Antonio, Texas
11th School Group Consolidated PT-1 trainers, Brooks Field, Texas, March 1926. Brooks Field became the center for primary Army pilot training in 1922.
Brooks Air Force Base
Coordinates	29°20′30″N 98°26′07″W / 29.341659°N 98.435172°W / 29.341659; -98.435172Coordinates: 29°20′30″N 98°26′07″W / 29.341659°N 98.435172°W / 29.341659; -98.435172
Type	Air Force Base
Site information
Owner	City of San Antonio
Condition	Closed, turned over to civil control.
Site history
Built	1918
In use	1919–2011
Battles/wars	World War I World War II

Brooks Air Force Base was a United States Air Force facility, located in San Antonio, Texas. It was closed on 30 September 2011.

In 2002 Brooks Air Force Base was renamed Brooks City-Base when the property was conveyed to the Brooks Development Authority as part of a unique project between local, state, and federal government. The Brooks Development Authority is now the owner and operator of the property, and is redeveloping it as a science, business, and technology center. The Air Force was the largest tenant at Brooks City-Base.

Brooks Air Force Base was one of thirty-two Air Service, United States Army training camps established in 1918 after the United States entry into World War I, being established on 8 December 1917 as Kelly Field No. 5. Flying at Brooks, however predates its military establishment, as the facility was known as Gosport Field prior to the first Army airplanes arriving on 5 December 1917.

Brooks Air Force Base was named to honor San Antonio aviator Sidney Johnson Brooks, Jr. Cadet Brooks died on 13 November 1917 when his Curtiss JN-4 nosed down as he prepared to land after his final training flight at Kelly Field, Texas, possibly because he had blacked out in reaction to the inoculations they had been given shortly before the flight. Brooks was one of the first to volunteer at the call for men for the American Flying Corps; he was about to complete his training for a commission as a military aviator. He was awarded his wings and commission posthumously.

The history of Brooks Air Force Base parallels the history of military aviation and aviation medicine in the United States. After the United States entered World War I, in April 1917, the U.S. Army recognized the need for trained flying instructors. San Antonio was chosen for a year-round training site due to its favorable climate, good water supply and convenient transportation facilities.

The Chamber of Commerce assembled an 873-acre tract southeast of the city near Berg's Mill and offered it as the site for the new aviation field. The site was originally called Gosport Field, a name derived from the flight instruction system used at the new base. On 5 December 1917, the Army named the site Kelly Field No. 5, and on 8 December, ground breaking ceremonies were held.