page_title: United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine
section_title: The first Texas Chapter
hierarchical_section_title: United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine / History / The first Texas Chapter
caption_attribution_description: English: USAFSAM from 1921 to 1931 on Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas. Photo taken Feb 2017
context_page_description: The United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine is the United States Air Force organization focused on education, research, and operational consultation in aerospace and operational medicine. USAFSAM was founded in 1918 to conduct research into the medical and physiologic domains related to human flight, and as a school for medical officers trained to support military aviation operations, later coined as flight surgeons. The school supported early military aviation from World War I through the evolution of aviation and into the modern era. USAFSAM conducted medical research and provided medical support for the initial US space operations beginning in 1947 through the establishment of NASA in 1958. After the creation of NASA, USAFSAM continued to actively support civilian and military manned space missions through clinical and physiologic research. USAFSAM is one of the oldest continually operating school for flight surgeons and other operational medical personnel of its kind in the world. USAFSAM is located in Dayton, Ohio at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and is part of the 711th Human Performance Wing and the Air Force Research Laboratory.
context_section_description: Maj. Francis H. Poole succeeded Major Bauer as the Commandant of the School of Aviation Medicine in 1925. In August 1926 the School was moved to Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas. Just five years later it was moved across town to Randolph Field in October 1931.
  In 1934 it was recognized that there was overlap in research topics between the School of Aviation Medicine and the Physiological Research Unit, Material Division, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. A division of focus was agreed upon between the two research units with the Material Division taking responsibility for the development of equipment, and the School focusing on personnel factors having to do with selection, classification, and maintenance of the flyer.
  With the onset of war in Europe the United States began mobilizing its forces in 1940 which resulted in an expansion of personnel and funding for the School. On January 20, 1942, a Research Department was formally established by the School Commandant Brig. Gen Eugen G. Reinartz MC with Maj. Harry G. Armstrong MC as the Director. Included in this new research department were branches for physiology, psychology, psychiatry, biochemistry, biophysics, pharmacology, ophthalmology, clinical investigation, otolaryngology, pathology, statistics, physical education and dentistry. An Aeromedical Library was newly established to support this research effort. The new research building on Randolph Field was officially opened on April 2, 1943.
  In January 1943, the Army Air Corps School of Air Evacuation was transferred to the School of Aviation Medicine from Bowman Field, Kentucky, linking the training of flight nurses with aeromedical education and research.
  After the war Colonel (Maj Gen) Harry G. Armstrong took over as Commandant of the School on 18 July 1946.  He had previously established and served as Director of the Aero Medical Laboratory at Wright Field from 1935 through 1940, and then as Director of the Research Department at the School of Aviation Medicine (1941–1942) before serving as the Surgeon of the Air Division at the Office of Military Government for Germany in Berlin (1942–1946).
  On April 1, 1946, the School was transferred from the Air Training Command to Air University Command and became the graduate medical department of the Air University, the educational and doctrinal center of the Air Force.
  In August 1946, Colonel (Maj Gen) Armstrong formally proposed the establishment of an Aeromedical Center to provide for the teaching, research, and clinical practice of aviation medicine. On June 21, 1949, an Aeromedical Planning Board was commissioned by the Surgeon General to formulate plans for an Aeromedical Center. The findings and recommendations of the Board were released in September 1949 as the Report of the Aeromedical Planning Board on an Aeromedical Center and were the basis for the School complex constructed later at Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas.
caption: USAFSAM from 1921 to 1931 on Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas. Photo taken February 2017
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPad Pro", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "10.2.1", "Image DateTime": "2017:02:07 13:22:53", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "194", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1730", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7728", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/3497", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "25", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:02:07 13:22:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:02:07 13:22:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "6239/530", "EXIF ApertureValue": "7983/3509", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "11899/1017", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "83/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[2015, 1511, 2217, 1330]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "088", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "088", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4032", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3024", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "29", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[83/20, 83/20, 11/5, 11/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPad Pro back camera 4.15mm f/2.2"}