November marks AFIT’s 90th Anniversary

  • Published
  • By Bill Hancock
  • 88 Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The Air Force Institute of Technology celebrated its 90th year of existence this month with a celebration and commemoration of the institute's unique place in aviation and aerospace history. AFIT's 46th Commandant, Brig Gen Walter Givhan, started the ceremonies by proclaiming "The Institute has always been here. Just as aviation was born here with the Wright Brothers, so AFIT was born in Dayton. Dayton was the right place then and it's the right place now." The General went on to cite the foresight of the institute's founders, including Col Thurman Bane, AFIT's first commandant, in realizing the strong relationship between technological education and the development of flight. "The vision of our founders is as relevant now as it ever was".

On November 10, 1919, the first official class convened at the Air School of Application, later to be renamed as AFIT, at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. Lieutenant Edwin Aldrin, whose son Buzz Aldrin would also attend AFIT and later walk on the moon as an astronaut, led and participated in that first class of eight students.

The school had come into being as a result of the vision of Col Bane, then working as Executive Officer of the Air Division. A year earlier, he had written the Director of Military Aeronautics in Washington DC a letter asking for authorization to establish an Air Service School of Application at McCook Field, stating "No man can efficiently direct work about which he knows nothing." Col Bane was granted authorization, and the Air School of Application (later to be renamed AFIT) was born. The institute's development was integrally tied to the development of air power in both world wars. It was recognized by leadership of the day that aviation was going to play a major role in national defense.

Dr Robert Calico, former Dean of the AFIT School of Engineering and Management, and guest speaker for the anniversary celebration, said, "Where better than to put the school than in Dayton? Where there already existed large air force, research & development, and acquisition communities. AFIT is still enhanced by these same communities at WPAFB today." Dr Calico went on "It is not enough to be an excellent university. AFIT had to be responsive to, even anticipate, Air Force and defense needs."

AFIT alumni pervade the Air Force and Department of Defense as both the practicing engineers and broadly educated leaders positively impacting today's scientific and technological challenges. AFIT graduates continue to contribute by rapidly responding to the needs of today's warfighter and providing the unmatched military-focused education that enables the Air Force to maintain its scientific and technological dominance.

AFIT claims such notable grads as Gen Jimmy Doolittle (1923), Gen Bernard Schriever (1941), and Capt "Gus" Grissom (1956) among its many distinguished alumni. Astronaut "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. (1963) is an AFIT alumnus along with his father, Lt Edwin Aldrin, Sr., a graduate of AFIT's very first class (1920). Since resident degrees were first granted in 1956, more than 16,000 graduate and 350 doctor of philosophy degrees have been awarded.

Today the institute thrives within the confines of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as the Air Force's school of choice for graduate education. AFIT accomplishes its education mission through three resident schools: the Graduate School of Engineering and Management (accredited by the HLC and offering doctor of philosophy and master's degrees in diverse fields such as aeronautical engineering to supply management), the School of System and Logistics (the Air Force's sole provider of logistics professional continuing education), and the Civil Engineer School (which provides professional continuing education in the civil engineering career fields).

All three schools' primary mission is to educate students so they possess the skills necessary to succeed in the rapidly changing strategic and technological environment of today's Air Force. This is accomplished by faculty and students working hand-in-hand on Air Force and DoD programs, just as it has for the past 90 years.

Dr Calico told a story about past AFIT faculty and students having a heated discussion on a newly installed wind tunnel in the days when the school existed at McCook Field. One faculty member turned and asked a gentleman standing nearby if he thought the new wind tunnel adequate for experimentation. The older gentleman replied "I think it will do just fine." It was not till later when the faculty member discovered the older gentleman was, in fact, Orville Wright.

Gen Givhan's closing remarks acknowledged the "giants of aviation on whose shoulders we stand" and recognized the Dayton community as "the essential advocate of AFIT whom we cannot thank enough." AFIT remains proud and pleased that its students continue to be a key component to the heritage and future of advanced air, space, and cyberspace power.

Happy Birthday AFIT!