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Randolph AFBRandolph AFB is a base of the United States Air Force located in Universal City, Texas, near San Antonio. Randolph AFB was dedicated in June 20, 1930, as a flying training base and continues in that mission today. It serves as headquarters of the U.S. Air Force Air Education and Training Command. It is known as "the Showplace of the Air Force" because of the Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture in which all structures including hangars were constructed. The symbol of the base is a large tower atop building 100, housing the 12th Flying Training Wing (FTW) headquarters, known throughout the Air Force as "the Taj Mahal" or simply "The Taj".
Randolph Air Force Base was dedicated June 20, 1930, as a flying training base and continues in that mission today. The idea for Randolph began soon after the establishment of the Air Corps Act in 1926, which changed the name of the Army Air Service to the Army Air Corps, created two new brigadier general positions and provided a five-year expansion program for the under-strength Air Corps. One of the new general officer positions was given to Frank P. Lahm, who was placed in charge of all flying training.General Lahm established the Air Corps Training Center and set up its headquarters at Duncan Field, next to Kelly Field, Texas. He soon learned the facilities at Kelly and Brooks Fields were not sufficient for proper training. The buildings, erected during World War I with a life expectancy of five years, had no suitable areas for ground training and the living quarters were inadequate. San Antonio's rapid growth was also beginning to interfere with flying training operations. The Air Corps soon decided an additional training field was needed, and a site north of San Antonio was chosen for the new field. Once the site for the field was selected, a committee decided to name the base after William Millican Randolph, a native of Austin, who, during his 9-year flying career, earned a remarkable record and contributed immeasurably to the progress of aviation. On Feb. 17, 1928, while returning to his duties at Kelly, he crashed his AT-4 on takeoff from Gorman Field, Texas. Ironically, Captain Randolph was serving on the committee to select a name for the new field at the time of his death. Captain Randolph is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
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