on wright-patterson afb, ohio in 2005 the defense base closure and realignment commission (brac) commission ordered the removal of the air force mission from brooks city base and the activation of the 711th human performance wing at wright patterson afb in dayton, ohio. the new wing combined the air force research laboratory's human effectiveness directorate with usafsam, and the 311th performance enhancement directorate in a 3-directorate wing: human effectiveness directorate, school of aerospace medicine, and the human systems integration directorate significant aeromedical accomplishments 14 october 1947 the t-1 partial pressure suit's development marked a milestone when captain chuck yeager wore the skin-tight garment made from nylon and cotton during the flight of the first rocket-powered airplane, the x-1, at edwards afb, california. while capt. yeager broke the sound barrier in the x-1 that day, more importantly the t-1 partial pressure suit contributed to his survival. aerospace medicine pioneer harry armstrong, who became the air force's second surgeon general, initiated the development of the t-1 in 1943 in collaboration with contractor james p. henry, a university of southern california physiologist. the suit was completed at the end of world war ii at the aero medical laboratory that armstrong had founded at wright field, ohio. the t-1 served as the model for subsequent air force partial pressure suits needed by aircrews in advanced high performance aircraft. 9 february 1949 the world's first department of space medicine established at the u.s. air force school of aerospace medicine at randolph afb, san antonio, texas. harry armstrong created the venue for pioneering studies in human physiology relating to space flight partly because technological advances in high altitude aircraft had taken man to the fringes of space. the department of space medicine's space cabin simulation of environmental systems and weightlessness experiments contributed immeasurably to america's early space flight program following the inception of nasa in 1958. mid-1952 aeromedical evacuation development marked a milestone when u.s. air force school of aerospace medicine scientists syrrel wilks and j.f. tomashefski created the world's first air transportable iron lung. adapted from philip drinker and louis shaw's 1928 invention of a large metal tank used to assist respiration in infantile paralysis patients, the sam (school of aviation medicine) lung was the only air-worthy transportable iron lung in america during the last major polio epidemic in the united states. air force aeromedical evacuation crews routinely transported countless polio victims using the sam lung. the sam lung paved the way for another aerospace medicine breakthrough when school of aviation medicine scientist forrest bird invented the respirator/ventilator that bears his name. 8 february 1953 aviation medicine is accepted as a specialty by the american medical association (ama) meeting in chicago, illinois, marking a milestone in a medical field that originated in america in 1917 when aviation medicine pioneer theodore lyster established the school of aviation medicine at hazelhurst field, mineola, long island, new york its recognition as a specialty by ama's advisory board for medical specialties and the council on medical education and hospitals contributed to the development of formal training programs that led to medical certification in what became aerospace medicine. its acceptance as a specialty within the medical profession had an enormous impact on the recruitment, retention and professional development of flight surgeons. early 1960 thomas tredici and donald pitts developed a gold visor which protected the eyes from harmful ultraviolet and infrared radiation. nasa used the visor in the face shield of its apollo astronauts who landed on the moon. without the visor, the astronauts would have been temporarily blinded by infrared radiation and unable to perform their missions. early 1960 air force aerospace medicine led a worldwide revival in the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat a variety of life-threatening medical disorders with the first successful hyperbaric treatment at langley afb, virginia of a pilot suffering from decompression sickness. this event led to the creation of the air force hyperbaric center at brooks afb in san antonio, texas in 1963. what had begun as an air force program designed to treat aviators victimized by decompression sickness, blossomed by the 1970s into a clinical research juggernaut that has had a profound and lasting impact on public health. air force aerospace medicine innovations spawned advances in the treatment of non-healing wounds, carbon monoxide poisoning, air and gas embolisms, crush injuries, bone infections, anemia, radiation-induced tissue necrosis, compromised skin grafts, thermal burns and destructive soft tissue infections. one of hyperbaric medicine's greatest breakthroughs was made at brooks afb by air force nurse (capt.) michaela shafer who discovered that hypoglycemia, not oxygen toxicity, caused seizures in diabetic patients receiving hyperbaric therapy. in 2003, the u.s. air force school of aerospace medicine made department of defense history when its hyperbaric medicine facility was nationally accredited. december 1973 usafsam developed a portable therapeutic liquid oxygen (lox) breathing system to provide a portable, low pressure, therapeutic oxygen system for use on aeromedical aircraft that did not have an integrated therapeutic oxygen system. late 1976 the usaf began its global influenza surveillance of u.s. military forces and their families through the project gargle program. since 1997, these efforts have been expanded with the department of defense's development of the global laboratory-based influenza surveillance program that has supported the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) through its contributions to the development of worldwide influenza vaccines. aerospace medicine disease surveillance, testing and detection techniques have contributed over the years to global public health. the 311th human systems wing's air force institute for environment, safety and occupational health risk analysis' epidemiology surveillance division (now part of usafsam) contributed to global disease detection during the first decade of the 21st century when it helped the cdc and world health organization monitor and test for the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus, commonly called sars, as well as supported global surveillance of avian flu. late 1977 air force aerospace medicine's pioneering contributions to cardiovascular disease research continued when a multi-year study was launched to scientifically understand the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease in the context of aviation. the study, which focused on older aviators, determined aviation-related conditions that posed the most risk to aviation safety with the fulfilled goal of providing 'safe to fly' outcomes that improved aviation utilization and helped extend the careers of veteran aviators. this study was part of a series of aerospace medicine initiatives that greatly contributed to scientific understanding of cardiovascular disease. among other air force studies that contributed to cardiovascular disease research was the heart evaluation and risk tabulation (heart) program that involved early diagnosis of heart attacks and strokes in flying personnel. heart, which provided the basis for new, effective preventive health dietary programs for military and civilian communities, led to the air force coronary arteriosclerosis prevention study that was one of the first of its kind in the u.s. to study risk factors for cardiovascular disease in pilots in their 40s and 50s. mid-1979 usafsam scientist john taboada discovered the effects of excimer laser exposure to living eye tissue which led to the development of photo refractive keratechemy (prk). short pulse laser energy produced re-surfacing and healing of corneal tissue. taboada's discovery was serendipitous in that his experiment was designed to measure excimer laser bioeffects. at the time, the air force was interested in using excimer lasers in powering the production of powerful green lasers used in long distance communications. taboada's prk discovery, which provided the basis for subsequent lasik surgery, had a tremendous impact on correcting myopia, the nearsightedness that a quarter of americans experience. in 1995, the food and drug administration approved prk. the air force approved prk in 2001. 1980s era air force acceleration research at brooks afb made great aerospace medicine strides that contributed to aviator safety and survivability. g-force research pioneers including sid leverett, george mohr, russell burton and kent gillingham significantly enhanced aircrew survival through initiatives that produced the advanced technology anti-g suit (atags), the high pressure ready flow anti-g valve, anti-g pilot conditioning program to reduce the potential for g-loss of consciousness (g-loc) and subsequent improvements to aviator helmet/oxygen mask ensembles that provided positive pressure breathing such as combat edge. august 1982 scientists at brooks were instrumental in the development and testing of the on-board oxygen generation system (obogs) that was first flown in august 1982 on an f-16. 1990s era aerospace medicine's support and development of critical care in the air marked its first major milestone in 1997 with the usafsam's inception of the critical care air transport team (ccatt) program that integrated air force aeromedical operations worldwide. ccatt was created in response to a shift in air force aeromedical evacuation doctrine following the first persian gulf war. the shift involving patient care from "return to duty" to "evacuate and replace" provided the impetus for ccatt's development as a training program that emphasized stabilizing patients in the aeromedical evacuation system. ccatt's development has since expanded the air force's aeromedical clinical transport capabilities by providing intensive care unit support on board transport aircraft. previous commanders of the school of aerospace medicine yearsname 1917–1919colonel william h. wilmer 1919–1925major louis h. bauer md 1926–1930major francis a. poole 1930–1932major benjamin b. warrimer 1932–1933lt colonel albert p. clarke 1934–1937colonel arnold d. tuttle 1937–1939colonel coleridge l. beaven 1939–1941lt colonel fabian l. pratt 1941–1946brig. gen. eugen g. reinartz md 1946–1949brig. gen. harry g. armstrong md 1949–1953brig. gen. otis o. benson jr md 1953–1956brig. gen. edward j. kendricks md 1956–1960 maj. gen. otis o. benson jr md 1960–1962colonel robert h. blount md 1962–1962colonel paul a. campbell md 1962–1966colonel harold v. ellingson md 1966–1967colonel james b. nuttall md 1967–1969colonel george e. schafer md 1969–1971colonel joseph m. quashnock md phd 1971–1975colonel evan r. goltra md 1975–1978brig. gen. robert g. mciver md 1978–1980 colonel lawrence j. enders md 1980–1983 colonel roy l. dehart md 1983–1985 colonel royce moser jr md 1985–1989 colonel jeffrey davis 1989–1990 colonel george e. schwender 1990–1993 colonel kenneth hart 1993–1995 colonel robert j. stepp 1995–1999 colonel tommy g. church 1999–2001 colonel rodger d. vanderbeek 2001–2003 colonel thomas w. travis md 2003–2005 colonel courtney d. scott 2005 - 2008 colonel richard e. bachmann 2008–2011 colonel charles e. fisher jr 2011–2016 colonel christian r. benjamin 2016-2019 colonel alden hilton 2019-2021 colonel tess goodman 2021-present col tory woodard names for the school of aerospace medicine over the years time periodname 1918–1919army air service medical research laboratory 1919–1921the medical research laboratory and school for flight surgeons 1921–1961the school of aviation medicine 1961–presentunited states air force school of aerospace 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