 1945. World War II had concluded victoriously. America's only five-star Air Force General looks to the future and the role of air power. There will no longer be any spot on earth, and certainly not in America, that is safe from attack by air. For our protection, we must have an Air Force second to none. For this, we need a great aviation industry, a great air transport system, and a great body of trained personnel. But we'll need more than planes and pilots and mechanics. We'll need scientists and mathematicians, and we'll need the full-invented genius of the American people. With these, we can protect the future, ourselves and our allies, with the weapons of the future. General Half Arnold, together with other pioneers in military aviation and leaders in World War II, envisioned a key element in the future would be an institution dedicated to training leaders in military aviation. Their dreams came to fruition in April 1954, when President Eisenhower signed legislation to establish the United States Air Force Academy. In June that same year, this site, near Colorado Springs, was selected as its permanent home. While architectural planning and construction would be formidable and time-consuming, the Fledgling Academy wasted no time in its boarding. A dream comes true for the United States Air Force. At Lowry Air Force Base, Colorado, 306 cadets of the first class marched to ceremonies dedicating the Air Force Academy. For General Hubert Harman, Academy Superintendent, Secretary Talbot, General Quining and other Air Force leaders like them, the dream of a separate Academy goes back over 30 years. Color guards from West Point and Annapolis dilute the occasion. The Academy will train cadets specifically for air operations. At first, commissioned officers will act the role of upper classmen. Before studies begin, freshman cadets receive nine weeks of basic training. A suggestion of the aerial might which the cadets will someday lead. General Harman introduces Air Force Secretary Harold E. Talbot. Here are portions of the Secretary's address. We're here to found a great national institution, one that is dedicated to the United States Air Force. The burden now upon individual airmen has become much greater than ever before. You cadets here today face the challenge given to few young men, that of preparing yourselves to lead the most powerful war machine on the face of these blows, and yet one which is dedicated solely to the prevention of war. Meanwhile at the permanent site, work proceeded at a fever pace. And at a press conference, revealing the grand plan for the complex, Academy Superintendent Harman charted the institution's course. We might call the basic missions of the Air Force Academy. That is to say, to motivate the youngsters that we get through four years of indoctrination and the development of the speed of core, to motivate them to a life plan of service to their country in the Air Force. A second is to provide, of course, a continuing, dependable flow of officers of that dedicated type into the Air Force. A third is that we aim to establish curriculum planning are directed towards the presentation of these youngsters and academic curriculum tailored made to what we conceive to be the ultimate requirements of officers of the Air Force. And finally, it is our responsibility to develop in them those high standards of loyalty, integrity, and patriotism, which constitute the cynical nom in any first-class military establishment. And so, faithful to the first superintendent's charge, the Academy stands today. An Air Officer commanding of the Cadet Squadron of the first class is the current superintendent, Lieutenant General Kenneth Talman. There's been a great deal of growth in this first quarter century of the Air Force Academy's existence. And of course, I'm not just talking about growth of the physical plant itself. I know how much General Harmon contributed to the early planning and the early thinking on what the Academy was all about, what it hoped to achieve. When you look at the three-fold mission as stated by General Harmon and reiterated by every superintendent, since that time, including myself, you naturally try to relate that to the needs of the country. Prior to World War II, of course, the role of the airplane in war was not very well-defined with great technological advances that came out of World War II and the early post-war years. It became apparent that we had to add some kind of program, which was either going to convert army officers to Air Force officers, or we were going to produce our own. The new Academy produced its first officers in 1959. And four years later, when President Kennedy was the commencement speaker, Academy graduates were holding important positions in our nation's defense forces. You here today on this field, your colleagues at Omaha and Nebraska, or who may be stationed in Western Europe, or men who are at sea and shipped hundreds of miles from land, or soldiers in camps in Texas, or in the island of Okinawa, they maintain the freedom by being on the ready. These distant ships, these distant planes, these distant men, keep the peace in a great half-court, stretching all the way from Berlin to South Korea. Recognizing that in the most difficult time in the whole life of freedom, the United States is called upon to play its greatest role. This is a role which we are proud to accept, and I'm particularly proud to see the United States accept it in the presence of these young men who have committed themselves to the service of our country and to the cause of its freedom. I congratulate you all, and most of all, I congratulate your mothers and fathers who made it possible. Moments of inspiration that live with a cadet throughout his career. The faculty at the Air Force Academy has been predominantly military. Not only have these instructors provided a role model for the cadets, but they've also brought a diversity of academic backgrounds from many civilian universities. For a number of years, the Academy has enjoyed a distinguished visiting professor program, which has produced extremely positive results for both faculty and cadets. The excellence necessary to succeed at the Academy is seen in later years, in many of the challenging assignments at the nerve center of all Air Force operations and activities. Currently holding the post of Assistant for General Officer Affairs at Air Force Headquarters, Colonel Robert Oakes, Class of 59. It's a long way from the foothills of the Rockies to the banks of the Potomac. Lots happened to me and to all the Class of 59 over those 20 years since graduation. We walked on Lower Air Force Base that day feeling like each one of us knew what was important in life, to go off and play ball or get an education or learn to fly or whatever. And those weren't the things that the Air Force Academy were about on that July day. They were about making you sweat and making you run and making you miserable, so that you'd appreciate how lucky you'd been a couple of weeks earlier. Never ceases to be amazing how much just getting a real close haircut changes a guy's outlook on himself and on those around him. I didn't believe they would design a uniform to demean, but sure enough they said get in that little baby blue beauty and march out there. It was interesting to look back on our eagerness with which we looked forward to going down to the permanent site down at Colorado Springs. That was what the Academy was all about. Well, June week was a superb time of enjoyment, retrospect on what wonders you had wrought with your life in those past few years and also an important part was enjoying the families. I remember this very clearly, how much I appreciated the opportunity to meet with the families of the friends that I'd made over four years. And we really were a very close-knit group. I'm very thankful that that close-knit aspect has endured over the years. Over those years, Academy graduates have assumed the leadership role in line combat organizations around the world. It's March, 1979. K.I. saw your Air Force Base in Michigan. Temperature, seven below zero. With a wind-shell factor, somewhere around 20 below. Can I see your restricted area bed, sir? Another class of 59 members, Colonel Robert Beckel, commander of the 410th Bombardment Wing of B-52 Outfit. Sir, I recognize you as Colonel Beckel, wind commander, Airman Hall reports, eight Bravo all secure. Thank you, Airman Hall. Routine, discipline, by the numbers, something that is a must in our strategic forces, and something I might add that became a way of life at the Air Force Academy by our day-to-day activities and what it was expected of us as cadets. It's an interesting concept, I think, that you pick up while you're at the Academy. From the standpoint that you must learn to do things in accordance with rules and regulations individually. And that, of course, has great application as far as your responsibilities with the type of weaponry that our air crews do carry on their aircraft. We can make no errors with those type of weapons. None can be a weak link in the chain or else the mission will fail. So each has an individual responsibility, but they have a broader responsibility to the team, to sense that and feel it and operate that way. Did that at the Academy in flights or in your squadron? Is it not enthusiasm? Since its founding in 1954, the only crucible of conflict to test the Academy man was Vietnam, and he was not found wanting. The Air War produced several laces. Academy graduates were among them. He is Major Jeff Feinstein, class of 1968. Success in flying fighters requires aggressiveness, imagination, and the ability to act independently. Aggressiveness, in particular, is one of those attributes they try to teach at the Academy. During the Vietnam War, I was in the 13th Tech Fighter Squadron. And on the 13th of October, 1972, I got my fifth kill on MiG-21 over in North Vietnam. I came out of the radar, and I got the first visual, what we call a tally hole. The main was 12 o'clock high, one mile. We turned hard into them, got another radar lock on, and shot two missiles at them. And the first missile got the kill of the second one. But you'll need the second one, the first one works. During the Vietnam conflict, some 150 Academy graduates gave their lives or remained missing. A legendary member of that group was Lieutenant Carl W. Richter, who flew 198 missions in Southeast Asia before giving up his life in the service of his country. The dedication to duty of those graduates who participated in the Vietnam conflict reflects the high professional standards, which are an important part of the Academy experience. 31 were prisoners of war. Captain Lance P. Seidgen won the Medal of Honor posthumously for resisting the enemy while in captivity. Spring 1973, Hanoi. American prisoners of war are released from North Vietnamese prisons. Of those who returned from captivity, one after more than six years of POW, the Academy's executive for professional ethics, Lieutenant Colonel John Byrd. I think the major asset that I gained from my four years at the Air Force Academy was a sense of self-discipline. A Reisner Trophy, our newest acquisition at the Air Force Academy, exemplifies the high moral standards and high sense of integrity which the Air Force Academy tries to teach to cadets. This goes a long way in helping to develop the firm foundation of public confidence, which is so necessary in the Air Force today. In a POW environment, it's extremely important that one have a strong sense of self-discipline to resist a lot of the pressures, both psychological and physical pressures. I think that most POWs developed their high, enviable record of resistance to the Vietnamese simply by calling upon their own personal experiences, their ability to adapt to the situation and setting their mind to it. And those are the very qualities that are developed right here at the Air Force Academy. Excellence is the watchword for the Academy's military training and leadership development program. And it's attained by surmounting repeated physical and mental challenges. Over the past 25 years, there have been many subtle changes in the methods of teaching leadership, which are more mature and which have provided cadets with a relevant environment in which to practice their skills before going out into the Air Force as officers. A class of 59 member in an important leadership position is the first graduate to earn a general star. He's Harold T. Todd, now Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Throughout my own Air Force experience, I found that the background of training at the Academy and leadership was most valuable in the context of learning to get along with people and living in a four-year leadership laboratory that allowed me to learn the experience of both leading people and even most important, perhaps, learning to follow. I think most people have a certain set of skills and capabilities which can be focused in this with the Air Force Academy does. The Air Force Academy, all the service academies for that matter, do provide the basis. But it goes beyond what you learn in a classroom or even in the environment. It's what a man or woman has inside himself and the degree to which he's willing to sacrifice and subordinate his own self-interest for a greater good. I'm not naive enough to think that everyone doesn't have some degree of self-interest. That's human nature, but it's the degree to which that is subordinated in the professional values that are part of our service and I think he's a military ideal and I think the Academy does a marvelous job of bringing that out. The physical education and intercollegiate sports programs prepare cadets for a demanding life and give them the self-confidence and physical stamina necessary for effective leadership. Many cadets have gained national recognition and a wide variety of sports. The Academy's first football all-American is from the class of 59. He's Lieutenant Colonel Brock Straub, now an engineer with the Space and Missile Systems Organization. For the last five years, I've been the director of engineering on an abstract world positioning system. It's been a team effort. Now that the system is up and operating and it works, it reminds me of the effort that we took to play in the Cotton Bowl in 1959. We played something like seven bowl teams in the process of going undefeated and we had a very, very good football team and culminated the season with a tie in the Cotton Bowl. Well, I think the Academy cries to get the type of person who is very interested in athletics and is willing to take on and rises to the competition that is available in sport and I think that comes out in the intramural program and I have a son who's there at the Academy right now and his feedback from the action in the wing is that the competition is just as keen now as I remember it. The Air Force Academy and the Cadet Wing have undergone a number of important changes during the past 25 years. In 1964, Congress nearly doubled the authorized cadet strength to the current level of about 4,500. This led to a new field house and dormitory. Additions were made to the academic building, gymnasium, hospital and the Cadet Dining Hall. Falcon Stadium, which was built entirely from contributions collected by the Academy Foundation was completed in 1962. The Cadet Chapel, the architectural high point of the Academy was completed and dedicated in 1963. Perhaps the most dramatic change to occur at the Academy has been the entry of women into the Cadet Wing in the summer of 1976. Women and men participate in a common training program designed to prepare them for common duty assignments after graduation. From the beginning, Academy Cadets have excelled academically. In the first quarter of a century, they had won 20 Rhodes Scholarships, numerous Guggenheim fellowships and various other study awards. Typical of winners of graduate academic awards is 1979 Rhodes Scholar Cadet Jeffrey Jackson. The Academy provides an excellent background in education and experience for a wide variety of careers in today's Air Force. The Air Force is a very technical oriented service and they need engineers and scientists to continue their mission. The major emphasis here at the Academy is on engineering courses and everyone is required. Even the political science majors are required to take aeronautical engineering and thermodynamics, something to give them a basic understanding of science and engineering. In the same light, the electrical engineers are required to take human values course namely literature and history courses on the American way of war and that type of thing. The balanced humanities and engineering curriculum at the Academy provides the graduate with all that he needs for any job in the Air Force. A man who has successfully put together a balance of science in the humanities is 1964 graduate Major Fred Gregory, currently a NASA astronaut. This is the National Air and Space News In. Inside, we'll see the history of man in atmospheric flight and space flight. I'm a member of the shuttle program and I certainly hope to be a part of this museum soon. And it all began at the Air Force Academy. I think just about everything at the Academy aimed you toward space. When I entered the Academy, I had a fond hope of becoming a member of the space team, but it was a far off dream. It's like dreaming to be the president. It's a goal, but you never expect to achieve it. However, when I selected my courses to take, I tried to take courses that would broaden me, the aeronautics courses, the astronomy courses, the mechanical engineering courses, the physics courses of course, all were the basis and the background for the work that I'm doing now. The English courses, the technical writing courses, the speaking courses all contributed to my success and I suppose everybody's success. We have in the program with the three other Academy grads, so I think we're well represented for a total of 55 or 60 astronauts for Academy graduates is a pretty good marriage. 25 years ago, 90% of the entering cadets had to qualify for pilot training. Today that requirement has been reduced to 60%. One of those who entered the Academy knowing he would not be a pilot, is 1976 graduate Lieutenant Mickey Duvall. Approximately five minutes. The panel should go on at that time and the aircraft should be in commission after that. Not every Academy graduate becomes an air crew member. Many of us join the support field. For example, myself, I've joined and become a member of the aircraft maintenance team. As a cadet, I was able to participate in many of the airmanship programs, some of which were the orientation flights, also a third Lieutenant program. And finally, I'm most proud of my parachuting that I accomplished at the Academy. Over the years, the Academy's airmanship program has used many ways to open the door to the world of flying. In the sailplane, the student experiences the basic principles of aerodynamics. The T-43 exposes the cadet to the sophistication of modern navigation, equipment and techniques. For those who are qualified for pilot training, a taste of powered flight in the T-41. Lieutenant Duvall sums up the experience. I think that the programs I was able to participate in as a cadet has helped me immensely in understanding what the air crew members are going through on the flight line. It's helped me to appreciate their role as a air crew member. Captain Don Backlund, class of 71, received the Air Force Cross for his actions during the Maya Glez incident. I've been very fortunate in my Air Force career to get an opportunity to fly several different types of aircraft. I began by flying rescue helicopters and then transitioned into fixed wing jets. The Academy influenced me tremendously. I read something as a cadet in a book that struck me as a cadet as a very young man and I have remembered ever since. It's a quote by Winston Churchill, and I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember word for word, but he said, there comes a time in every man's life when he is called upon to do something very special, something for which he and he only has the capabilities, has the skills and has the necessary training. What a pity if the moment finds the man unprepared. And in my mind, that's the mission of the United States Air Force Academy is to ensure that every cadet acquires the preparation that develops the skills and the training and the attitudes so that when the moment finds him in his career in the United States Air Force, he'll be prepared. Captain Don Backlund lost his life in an aircraft accident in August 1979 while this film was still in production.