Falcon Stadium’s Rich Heritage Explained

Almost all of the Air Force Academy football games are televised, drawing large national audiences.  ----more----

For most of those viewers, Falcon Stadium is their primary view of the Academy.  Consequently, it is important that the facility help tell the story of the Academy and the Air Force.  That was the rationale behind recent efforts to utilize the stadium as a venue to inform and inspire fans.  Air Force and Academy leaders and historians adopted an idea already in use at the Naval Academy’s War Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, in which they display the names of some of their most historic events.  Phase I of the Air Force Academy’s signage project is in place, highlighting five major air campaigns:  Berlin Airlift, the 1948–1949 operation to supply Berlin with food and other supplies after the Soviet Union blockaded the city, closing all road and rail links;  Allied Force, the 1999 air campaign in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War;  Inherent Resolve, the 2014 campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria;  Desert Storm, the 1991 operation to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation;  and Linebacker II, the December 1972 bombing campaign to force North Vietnam leadership to agree to a peace treaty.  Phase II of the Falcon Stadium heritage project could add an additional 20 campaigns.  In addition to that signage, depictions of the forty cadet squadrons’ patches were added to the tunnel used by the teams.

 

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