Monthly Archives: September 2025

Vintage Rare Bryan Air Force Base U. Air Force Pilot School 1952 Graduation Invitation. This terrific old heavy stock invitation would allow you to show your support for the United States Air Force, in particular the Class of 1952. This is in terrific condition with just some very minor blemishes on the front and back covers. From Wikipedia- Bryan Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base in Brazos County, Texas, located west of Bryan. Bryan Air Force Base was originally activated in 1943 as a U. Army Air Forces installation known as Bryan Army Air Field. The base housed a flight instructors’ school and was assigned the task of developing a standardized system of instrument flight training. The Full Panel Attitude System developed at the base was one of the most significant contributions the base made to pilot training. The instrument training school at Bryan AAF was the only one of its kind in the United States Army Air Forces. With the end of World War II (WWII), the base was inactivated. The installation became Bryan Air Force Base upon the establishment of the U. Air Force (USAF) as a separate service in September 1947. Following WWII, enrollment at the nearby Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (later renamed Texas A&M University) soared due to the G. Housing was in short supply, so between 1946 and 1950, an estimated 5,500 students lived, studied, ate, and attended classes at what became known as the Annex, located in buildings the USAF was not using. Former students lived and studied in cramped, cheaply built and already-dilapidated WWII buildings without heating, air conditioning or indoor plumbing, and described having to hitchhike to and from the remote site if they did not have their own cars. In 1951, with the outbreak of the Korean War, the base was reactivated for USAF pilot training and the runways were extended. Assigned to the Air Training Command, it conducted advanced flight training in the T-33 Shooting Star. In 1955, after combat in Korea had wound down, the USAF began reducing operations at the base, and in 1957, it announced that the base would be inactivated again in 1958. The USAF fully vacated the base in May 1961. [5] Texas A&M continued to renew the lease, and in 1988, full ownership of the former base was transferred to Texas A&M at virtually no cost. The site is now home to A&M’s RELLIS campus. The cover of this invitation has a silver embossed Air Force emblem and an embossed plane in the sky. It reads BRYAN AIR FORCE BASE. There is a heavy blue cord in the binding. Inside on the first page is a colorful United States of America Department of the Air Force circular logo. The invitation reads in fancy script: The United States Air Force Pilot School announces the graduation of Class fifty-two G Saturday morning, October twenty-fifth Nineteen hundred fifty-two at ten o’clock Base Gymnasium Bryan Air Force Base Bryan, Texas Aerial Review and Wing Review at nice o’clock There is also crepe-like paper at the beginning and end of the invitation. This measures roughly 4 1/4 by 6 inches. This also includes a business card for George R. Smith, Lieutenant, United States Air Force with a small 2 1/4 by 3 1/4 photo that I assume is Lt. Smith or a relative. I have done my best to photograph and describe these items. All items come from a smoke-free home. Please let me know if you have any questions about the item.