Garden City Army Airfield Garden City Army Airfield was a World War II training base of the United States Army Air Forces Central Flying Training Command ( CFTC ) . It is currently the city - owned Garden City Regional Airport . History . The Garden City , Kansas , Chamber of Commerce did most effective work in getting an airfield established in their area . At first , all of its energies were concentrated on acquiring one of the RAF training fields which were to be established in the United States during 1941 - 1942 . In June 1941 , the Chamber of Commerce sent representatives with an elaborate booklet to the War Department , setting forth the advantages of locating a flying school in Finney County , Kansas , buttressed by photographs of the area , and containing information on water and natural gas resources , and weather conditions . Perhaps the major obstacle to locating a training base in Kansas was the decision of the AAF Gulf Coast Training Center not to locate primary or basic training bases north of the Kansas - Oklahoma border because of poor flying weather compared to Oklahoma and Texas . To combat this decision , the Kansas delegation prepared detailed weather statistics which showed that the south portion of Kansas has as many clear and partly cloudy days as San Antonio , Texas . Over a period of 18 months a great amount of data was filed with the War Department . The cumulative effect of this information , plus the later government surveys which were largely in agreement , was in large part responsible for a reversal by the War Department of the decision of the Gulf Coast Training Command . The first knowledge of a firm intention to construct a base in the Garden City area came to the local civic leaders on 8 April 1942 , with a telegram from Washington announcing the imminent arrival of a board of officers to choose a site for the base . Three days later , the board of officers arrived and , under the guidance of the aviation committee of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce , a site was chosen 12 miles east of Garden City on US Highway 50 South . On 16 June 1942 , surveying crews began work at the site outlining runways and staking buildings . When the crews arrived , the area of the projected base was a ripe wheat field . Consequently , the first days were a sort of combined operation , which began with the farmers threshing a strip down the proposed runways to enable surveyors to start . Farming and surveying proceeded simultaneously . The construction program at Garden City was cut off before it really got under way by the orders of Headquarters , Army Air Forces , in June 1942 , stopping work on nine of the 14 proposed British Operational Training Units . This change wiped out the entire western Kansas project of British bases , including Garden City , Dodge City , Pratt , and Liberal . From the middle of June until the latter part of July 1942 , the Garden City officials did not know what kind of installation would be located in their community , if any . But , by 27 July , it was definitely understood that Garden City was to have a basic flying training school . By the middle of July , the Division Engineers had received a set of plans for the construction of the new type of base . The engineers were forced to remove every stake that had been driven for the former project and start anew . Contracts were let for construction before all the new stakes had been set out . Construction . The main base of the Garden City Army Airfield consisted of 1 , 584 . 66 acres , approximately 489 acres of which was re - served for the building area . The base was located on an irregular plot of high ground adjacent to the Arkansas River . The field extended one and one - half miles north and south and one and eight - tenths miles east and west along U . S . Route 50 South in Finney county , about 11 miles southeast of Garden City and 42 miles southwest of Dodge City . The land was acquired by judgments of Declaration of Taking in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas , Second Division . Some 66 barracks , with a total capacity of 2 , 224 persons , were built for enlisted personnel , while 520 cadets could be accommodated in 26 barracks . Officers ' quarters consisted of 17 buildings , with a total capacity of 272 . Two buildings were provided for nurses ' living quarters and mess hall . Total housing capacity for all personnel was 3 , 219 . The base hospital was constructed with five wards , with 151 beds . Five runways were built , four with a dimension of 150 x 6500 feet , and one 150 x 4 , 960 feet , with a gross load capacity of 74 , 000 pounds , wheel load of 37 , 000 pounds . Runways and apron ( 500 x 4 , 750 feet ) were constructed with a ten - inch gravel base placed in layers on a six - inch compacted earth subbase , and surfaced with one and one - half - inch asphalt cement ; the service strip ( 80 feet wide ) was a six - inch concrete slab , thickened to nine inches at the expansion and construction joints . Five taxiways , 50 feet wide , completed the runway system . Fronting on the field , three squadron hangars , 120 by 80 feet , were built . Four auxiliary fields were planned , but only three were constructed . They were located as follows : Runways on Auxiliary Field No . 1 were of concrete , while those of Nos . 2 and 3 were of the bituminous mat type . The runway area was the same on all three auxiliary fields 4 , 950 square feet . None of the auxiliary fields were completed when training began , and , as a result , the Garden City Municipal Airport served as an auxiliary field in the interim . Construction was officially completed on 25 May 1943 when the Project Completion Report was signed by the Area Engineer . Up to 23 March 1943 , funds apportioned for construction reached a total of $ 9 , 224 , 432 . 16 . Basic Flying School . Long before the actual completion of construction the base was in operation . The field was officially activated on 21 December 1942 . Official designation of the school at the time of activation was Army Air Forces Basic Flying School , Garden City Army Airfield . The school was controlled by the 32d Flying Training Wing ( Basic ) , Perrin Army Airfield , Texas , Central Flying Training Command ( CFTC ) . The 1050th and 1051st Basic Flying Squadrons were moved from Perrin AAF on 21 December 1942 as the flying training units , flying the Vultee BT - 13A Valiant single - engine trainer . They were joined by the 502d Basic Flying Training Squadron , being moved from Lubbock Army Airfield , Texas on 4 February 1943 when Lubbock became a Twin - Engine school . The assigned mission of Garden City AAF was pilot training for basic students . As originally planned , the first class was to arrive on 15 March 1943 , but this schedule was moved up to 15 January 1943 . The class began training on 16 January . From then on the base was the scene of feverish and effective training activity . In September 1943 , twin - engine training was introduced flying Cessna UC - 78 Bobcat advanced trainers ( AT - 17 ) . For a time during 1944 , a few Women ' s Air Force Service Pilots ( WASPs ) were stationed at the field , serving as engineering test flight pilots . On 30 April 1944 , this school organization was replaced , without transfer of personnel , by the 2521st AAF Base Unit ( Pilot School , Basic ) . The three flying training squadrons were reorganized as squadrons " A " , " B " and " C " . The need for basic flying training schools having considerably lessened by the latter part of 1944 , the basic flying school at Garden City Army Air Field was discontinued by Headquarters , Central Flying Training Command , effective 23 November 1944 . Since training was somewhat ahead of schedule , 18 November became the final training date . Immediately thereafter , both instructors and students were transferred . The upper class of cadets was transferred to advanced training , while students of the lower class were dispersed among other schools in order to complete the basic course . Garden City AAF was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command on 15 December 1944 and placed on a standby status . Aircraft storage facility . On 27 February 1945 , authority was granted to place the base on an active status as a storage depot for strategic aircraft of Class I , from which aircraft were kept in a short - term ready state and could be flown out within 72 hours . The 4132d AAF Base Unit ( Air Base ) was organized on 16 December 1944 to man what was now an aircraft storage depot . The peak of the storage mission was reached by July 1945 , when 1 , 456 aircraft were stored on the base . After July 1945 , the primary mission was reversed , that is , the major activity became the preparation of aircraft to be flown away from the base . By autumn of 1946 this phase of the mission was completed . Inactivation . On 29 October 1946 , in anticipation of deactivation of Garden City Army Airfield , the base was placed in an inactive status by the Army Air Forces , and on 15 March 1947 , the 4132d AAF Base Unit was discontinued . On 18 May 1947 , ATSC transferred Garden City AAF to the Army ' s District Engineer , Seventh Service Command at Omaha , Nebraska , who assumed jurisdiction over the field , pending disposition . The War Assets Administration eventually turned the air base over to the City of Garden City . Current status . Excess buildings and demilitarized equipment were sold or transferred to other bases . Some were torn down and sales were held for scrap lumber of torn down buildings , fence posts , barbed wire and other items which no longer had a useful need . The renamed new Garden City Municipal Airport served as a mid - continent stop for one of the country ' s first coast - to - coast air mail services . Two runways of the World War II Army airfield remain in use , the east - west runway being closed and the concrete being removed from the runway as well as many of the taxiways . The large parking apron has also been reduced in size . One of the wartime hangars remains in use , the other two being torn down , although the concrete foundations remain . Concrete foundations of some station buildings and a maintenance area are evident on the south side of the station area ; outlines of other structures removed from the site are visible in aerial photography in otherwise grassy areas . Many streets remain along with the outline of the base parade ground and headquarters . The former wartime airfield can be reached travelling east on U . S . Route 50 / 400 from Garden City .