LAST - Hangar used in WW1
N 29° 20.632 W 098° 26.656
14R E 553948 N 3246212
Hangar 9, Brooks AFB, is the last U.S. Air Force hangar used during World War 1 and is the oldest U.S. Air Force aircraft storage and repair facility.
Waymark Code: WMMN01
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/12/2014
Views: 3
Hangar 9 is the last of 16 airplane hangars built on the former Brooks AFB and the last of the 30 total hangars built on Brooks and Kelly Field AFBs during WW1. By the 1960s all the other aircraft hangars built during the expansion of Brooks AFB and Kelly AFB due to World War 1 had been demolished to make room for other buildings. Only Hangar 9, located at 8008 Inner Circle Rd, San Antonio, TX 78235, has survived.
Hangar 9 was originally used to store the Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" airplanes used to teach new pilots to fly at the beginning of WW1. It was used for training, storage and maintenance from its origin in 1918 until 2002 when Brooks AFB was decommissioned as a base and became part of a joint venture between the Air Force, City of San Antonio, and private investors that became known as Brooks City-Base. The former AFB has been repurposed for commercial use for research, industry, technology enterprises.
Throughout the history of Brooks AFB, hot air balloon squadrons and WW1 pilots were trained to fly the famous Jenny airplane. By WW2, troopers were taught how to parachute from airplanes here. These skills became a tactical advantage to the US and Allied forces toward the end of WW2. Most recently, from the 1950s Cold War up to the 2000s, Brooks AFB was primarily focused on aerospace medicine. After Brooks City-Base took over the ownership of the former Brooks AFB, Hangar 9 was repurposed from being an aircraft hangar to being an aerospace medicine museum.
Hangar 9 not only has a Texas Historical marker dedicated on June 3, 1970, it has also been listed in the National Registry of Historic Places as of May 20, 1970.
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