The Third Academy

At a small airstrip near Colorado Springs, a tall, slim stranger recently asked if any of the parked planes were for rent. "All these planes are for rent, mister," said the airport operator. "But you can't fly'em without a license. Let's see your credentials." Obligingly, the stranger took out his wallet and showed his pilot's license. His name: Charles A.

Lindbergh. "Oh, my, my," said the airport man. Minutes later Lindbergh took off to look over a 15,000-acre site offered free to the U.S. Air Force for its long-planned West Point of the air. Last week Air Secretary Harold Talbott, guided by Lindbergh's survey, announced his choice for the new U.S. Air Academy: the Colorado Springs tract.

"Little Lunnon." To Colorado's Governor Dan Thornton, the decision was "a dream come true." Scores of towns had fought over the plum; 580 were suggested and 67 were checked firsthand.

Except for a nearby girls' college, Colorado Springs had all the requirements.

The "Old Town" (West Colorado Springs) was founded in 1859 by brawling goldseekers. At the town's first church service the minister found only one worshiper because everyone else was out hanging a Mexican horse thief. Later, however, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad decided to cash in on the area's magnificent scenery (Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods, etc.) and climate (69DEG average in summer, 29DEG in winter), promoted a swank resort. So many young Englishmen came that Colorado Springs was called "Little Lunnon." Amidst the Rockies they played cricket and polo; one wrote that the city was civilized because "wherever you find polo, you find good clubs, good society and, usually, good tea." Nowadays, Colorado Springs (pop. 46,000) mixes manicured elegance with Western hospitality. Chuckwagon barbecues are more popular than polo, and uniformed men (from nearby Camp Carson and the Continental Air Defense Command) throng the scrubbed, tree-shaded streets. In the past five years the Chamber of Commerce has spent $50,000 for a campaign to land the Air Academy. The plush Broadmoor Hotel, which seldom lets an Air Force officer pay more than $5 a day for his room (even a $25 suite), helped almost as much as the climate.

$1 Billion Campus. In payrolls, purchases and visitors, the Air Academy will eventually mean $100 million a year to Colorado Springs. The first 300 cadets (class of '59) will begin school in temporary Denver quarters next summer, but before they graduate, the academy will be settled on its ranch-country campus.

This spring Congress authorized $126 million to build the third academy, ranking with the military and naval academies at West Point (founded 1794) and Annapolis (1845). Eventually, the Air Academy's cost may run close to $1 billion.

The Air Force, which absorbs 1,200 new regular officers yearly, expects eventually to get half from the academy's planned enrollment of 2,600. As at the older academies, cadets will be nominated mainly by Congressmen. The Air Force has already planned a sinewy four-year curriculum (1,548 hours of humanities, 1,629 of science, 2,176 of airmanship, including drill as well as flight), and intends to build, besides school buildings and barracks, an air field and a stadium for the football team.

Said Air Secretary Talbott happily: "It was the logical choice. Everybody wanted it. The country is beautiful. The climate is good . . . We're actually located centrally and excellently for football. If we want to play in Chicago, we'll just put the team in a C-54 and fly them there.

This is the Air Force, isn't it? Then they say it is too high up. If you're training men who are going to be fighting at 80,000 ft., you might as well send them to school at 6,000 ft." The final obstacle--the lack of college girls--was brushed aside by a high Air Force officer with more realism than humility. "When we open," he said, "somebody will see the wisdom of starting a girls' college."

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