Air Force celebrates 60th birthday

  • Published
  • By Col. Steve Arquiette
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Happy Birthday United States Air Force!! 

Sixty years of air superiority, space development and quality Airmen representing this great nation. We should all be standing proud this week!

The founding fathers of the Air Force, such as Maj. Gen. Billy Mitchell, Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold and Gen. Carl Spaatz, stood up for what they believed was the best for the future of the Department of Defense and blazed the trail for our future. Their hard work and dedication to air power came to fruition on Sept. 18, 1947, when the Honorable William Stuart Symington became the first Secretary of the Air Force and General Spaatz became the first Chief of Staff of the Air Force a week later.

We have come a very long way since that day. From prop aircraft to the stealth aircraft, and from balloon reconnaissance to global positioning satellites, we have made vast advancements in the past 60 years, but on this birthday, we equally honor our heritage as we look to our horizons.

As we press ahead into the future, we learn from our forefathers to embrace internal change as we adjust to a changing environment. Recently, Secretary of the Air Force, the Honorable Michael W. Wynne stated, "Just as Billy Mitchell endeavored to prove the potential of air power to a skeptical nation, we must now prove the critical importance of Cyberspace as a warfighting domain." This is just one example of our constantly evolving Air Force.

Tonight, we celebrate our 60th anniversary with all the pomp and circumstance it deserves. We're thrilled to have former 18th Air Force commander, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William Welser III share his leadership perspective, as well to have Mr. Jay Leno and the rest of our special guests to Travis as you help us celebrate. I am very proud to lead the more than 8,000 dedicated Airmen, Department of Defense civilians and contractors of Team Travis.

While many of us have been a part of the independent Air Force for more than 20 years, many of you will be the generation responsible for leading us into the next 60 years of air dominance. As we relax and celebrate, please remember to be safe. We have arranged Airman Against Drunk Driving to help you get home safe. Let's not needlessly ruin careers and lives as we celebrate. I encourage everyone to enjoy themselves to the fullest tonight as we celebrate this milestone!

In closing, please read this quote from a 1952 Air Force officer's guide discussion of December 7, 1941. Its closing line is strikingly perceptive: "The attacks executed by the Japanese on our meager air forces in the Pacific were very nearly disastrous. As of December 10, 1941, the 16 remaining B-17s of the valiant 19th Bombardment Group constituted the entire air striking force in the Far East. The almost incredible records of heroism and indomitable fortitude of the mechanics and aircrews who faced the Japanese in those early days of the war have been told elsewhere, and adequately, insofar as words can describe them. Of first importance, however, is the fact that when all looked hopeless, when the odds were outrageously impossible, when there was shock, confusion, and defeat everywhere, the men of the Air Force went out to battle again and again and again. Tirelessly, and with savage efficiency, they slowed and finally stopped the Japanese tide. These were truly the times that tried men's souls. A great tradition was born in those black days--the tradition that under no circumstances does the United States Air Force quit. The personnel of the Air Force are justly proud of their great organization in the later war years, when their formations darkened the sky, and no power on earth could withstand them. But they should never forget the example of inflexible will, of ingenuity, of refusal to accept defeat, set by the Air Force in the first dark days of the war. For those days may come again."

BE PROUD! BE SAFE!