Kelly Field KSKF Airfield Map canvas art Kelly Field is a Joint-Use facility located in San Antonio, Texas. In 2001, pursuant to BRAC action, the former Kelly AFB runway and land west of the runway became “Kelly Field” and control of this reduced size installation was transferred to the adjacent Lackland Air Force Base, part of Joint Base San Antonio. Kelly Field, known as the cradle of the Air Service, traces its beginnings to 1916, when Major Benjamin Foulois selected the site near San Antonio, Texas for a new aviation field. In June 1917, it became Camp Kelly, then Kelly Field, in honor of George E. M. Kelly, who crashed while attempting to land an aircraft at nearby Fort Sam Houston on May 1, 1911. Kelly Field is one of the oldest facilities in the Air Force inventory, as one of the initial World War I Army Air Service installations. The first aircraft landed at the field on April 5, 1917, a day before the United States entered WWI. It served as a school for pilots, supply officers, engineers and mechanics, and as an aviation general supply depot. Through the years it has played a vital role in sustaining American military airpower through its logistics and management missions. Thousands of men and women have served at Kelly in the defense of the nation and helped reshape the global map of aviation throughout the world.
