Every experience I had with aero clubs was they were designed to keep Air Force pilots from being able to rent/use their airplanes without a level of ass pain that mirrored about anything MWR touched. (The Air Force could find a way to make sex miserable. "Complete this CBT. Watch this video. Demonstrate the proper technique on this mannequin, with the proper prophylactic device installs. To use the device properly, first unroll the device, tip facing you.....etc etc etc")
I eventually cracked the wall and rented at Tyndall for a few years. Mandatory safety meetings, review of my flight plan by an on duty person, etc etc ignored the fact I was a not only a rated F-15 IP but also a CFI with 1000 hours of GA experience. My impression of most aero clubs was they were designed as a place to give WSOs and Navs a little bit of power and prestige.
Now--I understand GA can bite you. I understand better than most, as I grew up in it. Taking a fighter guy and dumping him into a skyhawk with a cursory one hour checkout is not what I recommend, nor what I sought. At the same time, the amount of BS required to rent, fly, and use a plane on base quickly sucked the joy out of the process. Add the fact our group routinely would yank the 210 (when I scheduled it for a XC) and replace it with a sluggish 172 for any number of reasons (usually for someone's training) and the attitude of "I was lucky to get access to these planes at all..." and I gave it up after 2 years. (Worst example--Wing leadership wanted me to fly Brig Gen Leaf--Operation Deny Fiight Bigwig--from a speaking engagement at Tyndall up to Maxwell for a meeting. They paid for trip so General could do our speaking engagement then make another one that same afternoon. I was asked to do it as they knew I was a GA guy and fairly safe/competent in that arena. The aero club manager swapped the 210 for a skyhawk on me with zero advance warning. Instead of a 45-50 minute flight our guest general got to putter along for almost 2 hours up to Montgomery in a ratted out skyhawk. MWR answer was "someone else had priority..." Gen Leaf enjoyed the trip, and I enjoyed his company, but it showed the pure disconnect between MWR leadership and the Wing. They routinely bit the hands that would have been their biggest advocate--the Wing flying operation and the pilots who worked there.)
Silver lining to the story was I quit flying GA until I could afford my own plane. Even now--years later--when I open the door to MY hangar and pull out MY plane on MY schedule, it feels damn good.
The way to make an aero club work IMHO is put it in the hands of the OG, and make it an "airmanship" opportunity for interested pilots like ACE was back in SAC. Continue to offer the flight training and options to the non-pilots and encourage folks to get involved. Put a TSGT with a CFI or a Nav or WSO in charge, however, and you will end up with a Hitler youth camp of pilot haters, and they will do their damndest to drive away the potential customers with the most money, interest, and abilities. The AF leadership didn't kill aeroclubs....stupid aeroclub managers and policies did them in.