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Article: Air Force Academy
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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AIR FORCE ACADEMY
AIR FORCE ACADEMY.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation creating the U.S. Air Force Academy on 1 April 1954, fulfilling recommendations that had been made by air-minded leaders since World War I. The academy was conceived as a four-year under-graduate institution, leading to the B.S. degree and a regular air force commission. The first class entered in the summer of 1955, using facilities at Denver, Colorado, prior to occupation of the permanent site at Colorado Springs three years later. The group, numbering 207, graduated on 3 June 1959. The academy reached its full authorized enrollment of 2,500 in 1962, and in 1964 legislation set the authorizations ...