20 Facts About USAF Academy

In January 1950, the Service Academy Board, headed by Dwight D Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University, concluded that the needs of the Air Force could not be met by the two existing US service academies and that an air force academy should be established.

Early Air Force USAF Academy leadership had the model of West Point and Annapolis in designing an appropriate curriculum, faculty, and campus.

USAF Academy facilities were likewise expanded, and training was modified to better meet the needs of the wartime Air Force.

The Goldwater Visitor Center, named after longtime proponent of the USAF Academy United States Senator Barry Goldwater, is the focal point for family, friends and tourists visiting the USAF Academy grounds.

The USAF Academy Airfield is used for training cadets in airmanship courses, including parachute training, soaring and powered flight.

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Interment at the USAF Academy Cemetery is limited to academy cadets and graduates, certain senior officers, certain academy staff members, and certain other family members.

All flying programs at the USAF Academy are run by the 306th Flying Training Group, which reports to the Air Education and Training Command, ensuring uniformity of flight training with the rest of the Air Force.

Units marked GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which, although based at the US Air Force USAF Academy, are subordinate to a parent unit based at another location.

Fourth-class cadets are expected to learn an extensive amount of military and USAF Academy-related knowledge and have significant restrictions placed on their movement and actions—traversing the Cadet Area only by approved routes and interacting with upper class cadets using a very specific decorum.

Air Force USAF Academy is an accredited four-year university offering bachelor's degrees in a variety of subjects.

Traditionally, the academic program at the Air Force USAF Academy has focused heavily on science and engineering, with the idea that many graduates would be expected to manage complex air, space and information technology systems.

Externally funded research at the Air Force USAF Academy has been a large and growing part of the technical majors.

Air Force USAF Academy has a Cyber Competition team that operates under the Dean of the Faculty and the Department of Computer and Cyber Science.

All cadets at the USAF Academy take part in the school's extensive athletic program.

The USAF Academy has several club sports, such as rugby, that compete at an intercollegiate level outside of the NCAA.

The USAF Academy has an in-state rivalry with Colorado State University, which is located in Fort Collins and is a fellow member of the Mountain West Conference.

Airmanship activities at the USAF Academy are primarily conducted by the 306th Flying Training Group.

The US Air Force USAF Academy Flying Team is composed of ~26 cadets selected to compete in National Intercollegiate Flying Association competitions.

Cadets who have ancestors who served in the Air Service, Air Corps, or Army Air Forces, or those who are direct descendants of Air Force USAF Academy graduates, are eligible to wear a different set of props and wings consisting of a silver prop and gold wings.

The Air Force USAF Academy continued the tradition, beginning with the first class, 1959, and so is the only service academy to have had class rings for every class since its founding.