[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 96 (Wednesday, July 11, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1301-E1302]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A TRIBUTE TO KELLY AIR FORCE BASE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 10, 2001

  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, July 13, 2001, after 85 years 
the flag will be brought down for the final time at Kelly Air Force 
Base in San Antonio, Texas. In recognition of this momentous occasion I 
offer the following tribute of Kelly AFB and its lasting legacy to the 
United States Air Force, the nation, and the San Antonio community.
  Seventy-four years after Travis, Crockett and Bowie manned the 
battlements at the Alamo, a different kind of warrior made his 
appearance over the South Texas City of San Antonio. He rode on wings 
of wood and fabric. In January 1910, on orders from Major General James 
Allen, Chief of the Army Signal Corps, Lieutenant Benjamin Foulois 
established a flying field at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Foulois arrived 
at the Fort with a Wright flyer, the only airplane in the air service. 
In April 1911, three young Army officers joined Foulois fresh from 
Glenn Curtiss' Flying School at San Diego. Among them was a thirty-
year-old lieutenant from London, England, George Edward Maurice Kelly. 
Kelly immigrated to America, enlisted in the United States Army and 
eventually received his citizenship and gained a commission. 
Volunteering for duty in the Air Service, he trained briefly with 
Curtis and then joined Foulois at San Antonio. Lieutenant Kelly's 
aviation career would be short lived. On May 10, 1911, he crashed his 
Curtis Type-4 Pusher into the brush near Fort Sam Houston's Drill 
Field. Lieutenant Kelly became the first American military aviator to 
die in the crash of a military aircraft. Six years later, one of the 
nation's premier flying fields would bear the name of this brave young 
aviator.
  Lieutenant Kelly's death caused the Commander at Fort Sam Houston to 
call a halt to flying at the Post. Aviation didn't return to the Alamo 
City until November 1915, when the First Aero Squadron arrived from 
Fort Sill, Oklahoma. It did not stay long. In March 1916, the Mexican 
Revolutionary leader, Pancho Villa, attacked Columbus, New Mexico, and 
the First Aero Squadron, commanded by Foulois, joined a punitive 
expedition commanded by General John J. Pershing. Within months all its 
few aircraft were grounded. With World War I raging in Europe, it was 
clear
  With the acquisition of more land west of Frio City Road in 1917, 
Kelly Field was divided into two areas, Kelly Number I and Kelly Number 
2. While Kelly Number 2 was busy turning out dashing aviators, Kelly 
Number 1, renamed Duncan Field in 1925, was engaged in a less glamorous 
task of aviation supply and maintenance. This humble stepchild spawned 
out of necessity would eventually thrive and go on to become an Air 
Force logistical giant. By 1935, most world powers were struggling to 
free themselves from the grip of worldwide depression. In Germany, 
Adolph Hitler had seized the reigns of power. On the other side of the 
globe, Japan was running rampid through Manchuria. The clouds of 
depression were clearing, but clouds of war were rapidly taking their 
place. Aircrew training at Kelly was stepped up; courses were conducted 
in nearly every form of military aviation including attack, pursuit, 
observation and bombardment. Paved runways and

[[Page E1302]]


  In the early '50s, propeller whine was replaced by jet roar. Boeing 
B-47s, first operational all jet strategic bombers, began to line Kelly 
ramps awaiting their turn to pass through the overhaul and modification 
lines in building 375, at that time the world's largest hangar. They 
would be followed by a succession of aerial armament including the B-58 
Hustler, the F-102 Delta Dagger, and now the venerable B-52 
Stratofortress. For over forty-five years the B-52 filled the role of 
manned strategic bombers; and for thirty-six of those years, the San 
Antonio Air Materiel Area and its successor, the San Antonio Air 
Logistics Center, strengthened its airframe and modified its offensive 
and defensive capabilities. In January 1970, a cavern with wings shared 
the maintenance area with the camouflaged B-52s. It is the world's 
largest aircraft, the Lockheed C-5. This enormous cargo and troop 
carrier, longer than the area covered by the Wright brothers' first 
flight, was the most ambitious workload ever assumed by this or any 
other Air Logistics Center. From the tip of its liftable nose, to the 
top of its five-story tail, the C-5 was a Kelly management 
responsibility for over 35 years. Less visible was the vital support 
given to other aircraft and weapon systems. Kelly personnel managed 
over half of the Air Force engine inventory, repairing and managing the 
C-5's TF39 engine and the F100 engine, which powers the F-15 and F-16 
aircraft. Kelly personnel also managed engines for the T-37 and T-38 
trainers, the A-10 Attack aircraft and C-130 transport. Other members 
of the Kelly team manage all the fuel used by the Air Force and NASA 
and monitor all Air Force nuclear weaponry.
  Although the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Kelly AFB remained a 
vital part of American defense of freedom. During Operation JUST CAUSE 
in December 1989, Kelly was a staging area for troops on their way to 
Panama and was a reception point for wounded Americans. Less than a 
year later Kelly's people worked 24-hour days in support of American 
and Allied efforts to drive Iraqi invaders from Kuwait in Operations 
DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM. By March 1991, Kelly had sent nine million 
pounds of munitions to the theatre of operations along with 7,400 tons 
of other supplies and 4,700 passengers. In April 1999, Kelly employees 
again were called upon to perform their ``logistical magic.'' Engines 
were surged to support NATO's efforts to end brutal ethnic cleansing in 
Kosovo.
  Even before the end of the Cold War, America's military services saw 
their budgets grow smaller, and by the early 1990s, people expected to 
see a ``peace dividend'' to help reduce the budget deficit and pay for 
soaring costs of social services. Continuing efforts to cut defense 
spending by relocating some missions and closing some bases put Kelly 
and the San Antonio Air Logistics
  The center had the maximum of six years to relocate its missions and 
turn over a going concern to the city's redevelopment authority. Center 
officials used three guiding principles in its planning: the first was 
continued support to maintain Air Force readiness; the second was 
taking care of the Kelly work force; and finally, minimizing the impact 
on the San Antonio Community.
  Both the city and the Air Logistics Center were determined to make 
this transition a success. Kelly created the Privatization and 
Realignment Directorate, headed by Tommy Jordan, to handle the Air 
Force side of the operation. The city created the Greater Kelly 
Development Corporation (later Authority) to carry out the strategies 
and plans to redevelop the base. The group went right to work, signing 
its first lease for a portion of East Kelly to Rail Car Texas for a 
rail car repair facility. Less than a month later, aircraft engine 
giant Pratt & Whitney signed a lease to perform upgrades on the F100 
engines. And in November 1997, Ryder International Logistics, Inc. 
signed a lease for warehouse space.
  However, the dream to keep all of the Center's workload at Kelly 
never materialized. The Air Force ran public-private competitions for 
Kelly's workload. The first went to another ALC. In September 1997, the 
Air Force announced that Warner Robins ALC won the C-5 depot 
maintenance contract. Only 200 Kelly workers moved to the Georgia base, 
but thousands upon thousands of pounds of equipment necessary for C-5 
maintenance were loaded on 18-wheelers for the trek to south Georgia. 
Over the next year, as workers finished maintenance on the C-5s, 
Kelly's giant aircraft hangar got emptier and emptier. On 15 September 
1998, the last C-5 to undergo PDM at Kelly lifted off the runway, 
ending nearly eight decades of aircraft depot maintenance.
  But building 375 didn't remain empty for long. On 20 February 1998, 
representatives from Boeing, GKDC, and the city of San Antonio signed 
letters of intent for the lease of five buildings. Workloads at the new 
Boeing Aerospace Support Center included C-17s, KC-10s and KC-135s for
  Kelly's other large workload, the Propulsion Business Area, went on 
the bidding block in March 1998. In February 1999, the Air Force 
announced that Oklahoma City ALC and its bidding partner Lockheed 
Martin had won the contract. The news for Kelly and San Antonio was not 
all bad, however. Early on, Oklahoma City ALC announced it was only 
interested in Kelly's F100 workload, which left in December 1999. Work 
on the TF39 and T56 engines, and about 1,400 former Kelly federal 
workers, would stay at Kelly in building 360 under contract with 
Lockheed.
  The rest of Kelly's depot maintenance workload, automatic test 
equipment, gas turbine engines, and ICBM reentry vehicles for example, 
moved to the other ALCs between 1997 and 2000. The remaining three ALCs 
picked up Kelly's materiel management responsibilities beginning with 
ICBM reentry vehicle items in August 1997 and ending with secondary 
power systems in June 2001. In the intervening four years, millions of 
pounds of equipment needed to perform Kelly's various missions left the 
base for their new homes across the country.
  Kelly's remaining base operating support transitioned to Lackland 
AFB, beginning with the 76th Medical Group in October 1999. The final 
realignment of base support and Kelly's major tenant units to Lackland 
was completed by April 2001. Meanwhile, the GKDA's vision of a ``new 
Kelly'' had taken off. The city-appointed authority renamed the base 
KellyUSA as a way to convey the nonmilitary focus of the burgeoning 
2,000-acre industrial and commercial park. By 2000, GKDA was already 
well on its way to its goal of replacing the civil service jobs lost at 
Kelly.
  Although the flag came down on the San Antonio Air Logistics Center 
on July 13, 2001, it was not the end of Kelly's story. Kelly's legacy 
will live on for generations. Kelly was a place where people from all 
backgrounds came together to roll up their sleeves and work for a 
united cause--our country's freedom. For 85 years Kelly AFB made major 
contributions to the military strength of the United States and the 
prosperity of San Antonio. Kelly was the largest single employer in San 
Antonio and South Texas for over 50 years, and year-after-year Kelly 
was the largest contributor to the Combined Federal Campaign within the 
city. Kelly was a place where the workers prospered, purchased better 
homes, and provided family members the resources to pursue more 
education and more opportunities. Kelly Field provided tens of 
thousands of civil service jobs, and was the birth and backbone of the 
Hispanic middle class in the Alamo City. Generations of Hispanic 
families were employed at Kelly throughout its history, and, today many 
of the city business leaders and even congressional members have their 
roots as Kelly families.
  For decades the men and women of Kelly AFB dedicated their hearts and 
lives to the service of their country. From its beginnings as a 
farmer's cotton field in 1916, Kelly became the largest recruit and 
aviation training camp in the United States during World War I. In the 
interwar years, Kelly served as the Alma Mata of the Air Corps while 
its neighbor Duncan Field provided repair and supply support for 
America's small air arm.
  Following World War I, Kelly became one of the country's largest 
logistical supermarkets, supporting the Air Force around the globe. 
During the most recent conflicts of JUST CAUSE, DESERT SHIELD/DESERT 
STORM, and Kosovo, the Kelly employees had the greatest logistical 
support of all the ALCS, shipping more components, more engines, and 
more munitions. From the beginning of Kelly Field to the end of the San 
Antonio Air Logistics Center, the logistical impact and support of 
Kelly and its employees were vital for the United States to be 
successful in completing the mission. Today, Kelly transitions again, 
becoming KellyUSA, an industrial, commercial park for the 21st century. 
But, throughout this tradition of service remains and will continue to 
be--Kelly Forever!




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