R
ANDOLPH AFB, SITUATED
close to San Antonio in
Texas, is a location that
is synonymous with US
Air Force aircrew training.
Named after Capt William
M. Randolph, pilot training here dates
back to 1931 and it has evolved through
the eras with a variety of aircraft types
and core missions. Remarkably, the rst
students graduated on the venerable
Northrop T-38 Talon back in 1962, and
this nimble jet trainer remains the staple
of today’s training syllabus throughout
the USAF some 57 years later!The resident units at Randolph
were organized under the 12th Flying
Training Wing (FTW) in 1972 and current
commander Col Mark S. Robinson told
Combat Aircraft: ‘The wing is vast and
includes three distinguished ying units at
ve di erent locations.’
USAF cadets begin the long and
arduous road towards a front-line cockpit
at the USAF Academy in Colorado with
Introductory Flight Screening. The
1st Flying Training Squadron (FTS) is a
contractor-operated organization based
at Pueblo Memorial Airport and here
the cadets follow an introductory coursein the Diamond Da20C Eclipse as they
commence training to become either
Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) pilots or
Combat Systems O cers (CSOs). The
94th FTS at Colorado Springs conducts
glider training with the German-built
Schempp-Hirth TG-15A Duo Discus and
TG-15B Discus-2 and the DG Flugzeugbau
TG-16A. Co-located is the 557th FTS,
which utilizes the Cessna T-41A and
T-51A plus the Cirrus T-53A. All of this
introductory training comes under the
306th Flying Training Group (FTG), one of
two geographically separated units (GSUs)
within the 12th FTW. ‘At the academyAbove left to
right: Col Mark
Robinson,
the current
commander of
the 12th FTW.
A trainee
instructor pilot
of the 560th FTS
checking his
T-38C prior to a
fl ight.
Below: T-6As
of the 12th FTW
conduct an
‘elephant walk’ at
Randolph. USAF/
Shelby Pruitt32 September 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
UNIT REPORT // 12TH FLYING TRAINING WING
30-35 Randolph Training C.indd 32 18/07/2019 13:45