Brooks Air Force Base Brooks Air Force Base is a closed 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 . History . 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 a training flight at Kelly Field , TX . Brooks was one of the first to volunteer at the call for men for the American Flying Corps ; he was in training for a commission as a military aviator . He was awarded his wings and commission posthumously . World War I . 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 . On 16 February 1918 Kelly Field No . 5 became a separate post and named Brooks Field by the Aviation Section , U . S . Signal Corps The first commander of Brooks Field was Lt . Col . H . Conger Pratt , who until the preceding October had been a cavalryman . The first aircraft flown from the new Brooks Field 28 March 1918 , was a Curtiss JN - 4D " Jenny " of World War I fame , piloted by Maj . Leo A . Walton . Brooks Field , contained the principal flight instructor ' s school . During its first year of operation , Brooks Field consisted of 16 hangars with extensive support facilities . Of these early buildings , Hangar 9 , now the Edward H . White , II Memorial , is the only structure still in existence . Squadrons assigned to Brooks Field : Inter - war years . In May 1919 , the pilot instructor school was closed and a Balloon and Airship School was opened for pilots and ground crew members . A huge 91 , 000 - square - foot airship hangar was constructed . However , a series of mishaps in operating the hydrogen - filled craft led to the transfer of the school from Brooks to Scott Field , Illinois on 26 June 1922 . After the cancellation of the airship training , the 11th School Group was formed at Brooks Field as the Primary Flying School for the Air Service and Army Air Corps , replacing the World War I school at Carlstrom Field , Florida . The Primary Flying School operated between September 1922 through July 1931 . The school took about six months initially , with advanced training later divided into three months each of basic and advanced instruction . The dual trainer initially used was the Curtiss JN - 6H . Brooks later accepted other planes , including Vought VE - 7 Bluebirds and Dayton - Wright TA - 3 s , for evaluation , but JNs were used until 1926 . The beginning class in March of that year was the first without Jennies . Students now flew in the new Consolidated PT - 1 , with tandem seats and a Wright E engine . A few National Guard officers went to Brooks Field in January 1923 for pilot instruction . World War I flyers underwent refresher training while others took the regular course . Eight of the ten officers entering graduated to become junior airplane pilots . The Air Service suggested , and the Militia Bureau adopted , a policy of giving men flying training before commissioning them in the Guard . During the 1920s , the Primary Flying School at Brooks expanded but still could not accommodate all primary students . Needing another school , the Air Corps reopened March Field , California . Reorganizing pilot training , the Air Corps created a Training Center at San Antonio with Brig . Gen . Frank P . Lahm in charge . He opened headquarters at Duncan Field on 1 September 1926 . As an Assistant Chief of Air Corps , he commanded the Primary Flying School and the School of Aviation Medicine ( Flight Surgeons ) at Brooks Field , and the Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field . In 1927 basic moved out of the advanced phase and combined with primary . At that point , primary - basic changed to eight months in length and advanced to four months . With the beginning of the five - year expansion program . More than 1 , 400 pilots were trained during those years and graduates included such notable aviation figures as Generals Claire L . Chennault , Thomas D . White , Nathan F . Twining , and Col . Charles A . Lindbergh . Also during this period , the School of Aviation Medicine was moved from Mitchel Field , New York , to Brooks . The flying school was a source for aviation medicine research and , in turn , the School of Aviation Medicine provided a means to screen , examine and upgrade the caliber of cadets being trained at Brooks . Both organizations were transferred to the newly constructed Randolph Field in October 1931 . On 28 September 1929 , Brooks was the site for the first successful mass parachute drop in the world . The concept , conceived and implemented at Brooks , confirmed the practicality of tactical paratrooper warfare . The concept proved its value during World War II . During the 1930s , Brooks was the center of aerial observation activity and several units were trained in tactical observation . In 1938 , the Air Corps wanted to move Headquarters 21st Balloon Group to Brooks Field to organize a balloon school . Ten years had passed since it had trained observers at Scott Field . It needed 300 more observers for balloon units in mobilization plans . It wanted to run 2 sessions a year at Brooks , with 5 officers of the Regular Army and 15 from the National Guard in each class . The War Department thought the proposal significant enough to merit further study . On 21 September 1938 , the small band of lighter - than - air enthusiasts in the Air Corps lost their leader ( General Westover ) in an aircraft crash . Instead of letting the Air Corps open a school , the War Department inactivated the 21st Balloon Group at Scott Field on 1 June 1939 . Thus , the lighter - than - air branch consisted of 3 balloon squadrons , plus 10 officers and 350 enlisted men , when war broke out in Europe . In 1940 , Brooks became the site for a special school for combat observers . World War II . During World War II , Brooks Field housed the School for Combat Observers and the Advanced Flying School ( Observation ) . To cope with the huge buildup in personnel and equipment , the Air Corps adopted a policy of using temporary construction for housing and permanent structures for technical buildings , putting up tents to accommodate personnel . The program remained in operation until 1943 when it was disbanded . Training in the school then switched to twin - engine aircraft , flying the Curtiss AT - 9 " Jeep , " the all - wood Beechcraft AT - 10 Wichita , or the Cessna AT - 17 Bobcat , subsequently training pilots to fly the B - 25 Mitchell bomber beginning in 1943 until the end of the war . Cold War . Reserve Training Center . When pilot training at Brooks Field concluded at the end of World War II , the base took on a new mission . In September 1951 in the midst of the Korean War , the Air Force established a reserve training center at Brooks Air Force Base . The 907th Air Reserve Wing was assigned to the center . Conceived originally as a troop carrier unit , the wing did not receive its first planes until the summer of 1952 . The planes were T - 6 Texan s , an indication of the 907th ' s new mission , reserve pilot training . Almost before it began its new mission , the 907th Air Reserve Wing was replaced by the 8707th Pilot Training Wing ( Single - Engine ) . On the first anniversary of its activation , the 8707th had six T - 6s and two C - 46 Commando es assigned . That began to change in April 1953 when the wing acquired its first five North American T - 28 Trojan s . In 1954 Colonel David L . " Tex " Hill , a fighter pilot who made his reputation as a member of Chennault ' s Flying Tiger s , took over the wing ' s pilot training program . At year ' s end the wing converted to C - 46s and the 8707th was replaced by the 433d Troop Carrier Wing . In 1956 reservists celebrated their fifth anniversary at Brooks with the arrival of another aircraft , the C - 119 Flying Boxcar transport . Four years later , the 433d Troop Carrier Wing moved to Kelly AFB . From the time the Reserve first established a wing at Brooks in 1951 , whatever the numerical designation , the people of San Antonio have always referred to the unit as the Alamo Wing . An era in aviation history ended on 20 June 1960 , when the last plane took off from Brooks . The aircraft was a C - 131 Samaritan piloted by Col . L . B . Matthews , commander of Det . 1 , 1st Aeromedical Transport Group . Aerospace Medicine . During the late 1950s , Brooks was transformed from a flying training center to a center for modern medical research and development and education center . The transition started in the summer of 1959 when the School of Aviation Medicine returned to Brooks from Randolph AFB . Brooks became the headquarters for the school of Aerospace Medicine ( SAM ) . In 1957 , SAM scientists moved into the newly completed center at Brooks AFB . SAM aided the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) with Project Mercury and served as a back - up site for lunar samples brought back to Earth on the Apollo missions between 1969 – 1972 . The air evacuation program at Brooks AFB proved vital to the care of wounded personnel in the Vietnam War . On 1 November 1961 , Air Training Command transferred jurisdiction of Brooks AFB to Air Force Systems Command ( AFSC ) . This was all part of an Air Force plan to reorganize aerospace medical research . Along with the transfer of Brooks , ATC passed to AFSC ( and its newly formed Aerospace Medical Division at Brooks ) control of the USAF Aerospace Medical Center , the School of Aerospace Medicine , the USAF Hospital Lackland , and the 3790th Epidemiological Laboratory . ( The School of Aviation Medicine had been re - designated as the School of Aerospace Medicine on 8 May 1961 . ) However , the Medical Service School at Gunter AFB , Alabama remained in the command , reassigned from the medical center to Headquarters ATC on 1 October . President John F . Kennedy dedicated the School of Aerospace Medicine on November 21 , 1963 , the day before he was assassinated in Dallas , Texas . This was Kennedy ' s last official act as president . After the Vietnam War , the base ' s mission narrowed to one centered on specific research related to U . S . Air Force fliers and personnel . The aerospace era placed new demands on medical research and education , particularly in space medicine . Research efforts at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine were instrumental in making manned space flight a reality . Researchers continued to study man ' s interaction with the aerospace environment , seeking ways to maximize a pilot ' s ability to use modern , high performance aircraft . Flight simulation devices , the centrifuge , altitude chambers , lasers and other specially developed equipment , enabled researchers to perform laboratory studies of man ' s tolerances in the aerospace environment . In the early 1980s , other organizations relocated to Brooks AFB . Among them were the Air Force Human Resources Laboratory and the USAF Occupational and Environmental Health Laboratory . In addition to the Air Force Office of Medical Support , Brooks became home to the Air Force Drug Testing Laboratory and the Air Force Systems Command ' s Systems Acquisition School . A new Schriever Heritage Park , named for Gen . Bernard A . Schriever , first commander of Air Force Systems Command , was dedicated on Oct . 7 , 1986 , during the celebration of Aerospace Medical Division ' s 25th Anniversary . The Aerospace Medical Division was redesignated the Human Systems Division on Feb . 6 , 1987 . In November 1987 , Brooks celebrated its 70th anniversary . During the celebration the Sidney J . Brooks Jr . Memorial Park was dedicated . This area , along with Schriever Heritage Park , provides a quiet beauty to the base and offers a spot for remembrance of the heritage that is Brooks AFB . The 1990s ushered in a new era . For several years the Department of Defense had been looking for leaner , and smarter cost - saving ways to do business . However , this process was intensified with the unexpected collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the demise of the Russian empire . Americans expected a peace dividend — a reduction in defense spending . Downsizing became the key word , but Brooks AFB continued to grow . In 1991 four of its laboratories — the Air Force Human Resources Laboratory , the Air Force Drug Testing Laboratory , the Harry G . Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory , and the Air Force Occupational and Environmental Health Laboratory , as well as the laboratory function of the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine — combined to became the Armstrong Laboratory , one of four super laboratories in the Air Force . Also , the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence was formed and located at Brooks . This organization has the monumental task of restoring closing installations to their original state and of ensuring that future installations are environmentally safe . Consolidations continued in 1992 with the merging of the Air Force Systems Command and the Air Force Logistics Command into a new organization called the Air Force Materiel Command . As a part of the new command , the Human Systems Division at Brooks again changed its name to the Human Systems Center . Although the Air Force continues to shrink , it will be flexible enough to respond on short notice to a wide range of regional crises and contingencies . Brooks City - Base . Following the 1995 BRAC , when Brooks AFB was removed from the Base Realignment and Closure list , city , state , military , and community planners began several years of hard work to develop a plan to privatize approved the gradual transition in ownership of Brooks AFB from the Air Force to the Brooks Development Authority . This transition came into full effect on 22 July 2002 , when the Brooks Development Authority assumed control of the newly named Brooks City - Base . In 2005 , Brooks City - Base was once again placed on the BRAC list . Air Force operations ceased on 15 September 2011 . The Brooks Development Authority has demonstrated economic development success with projects including a retail development , approximately of research and distribution facilities for DPT Laboratories , the South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases ( an infectious disease research institute coordinated with the University of Texas at San Antonio ) , an international pharmaceutical company , and a $ 25 . 5 million City / County emergency operations center which opened in the Fall 2007 . The 311th Air Base Group inactivated on 1 September 2011 , and the remaining few USAF personnel had shuttered the base for good by the 15th of that month . Historic Hangar 9 . Brooks Field Hangar 9 was restored in 1969 to become the U . S . Air Force Museum of Aerospace Medicine . This museum is to display the early history of Brooks Field and to preserve and display an extensive collection of photographs and equipment related to aviation and aerospace medicine . Major commands to which assigned . USAAC / USAAF United States Air Force