Harvard State Airport Harvard State Airport , also known as Harvard State Airfield , is a public use airport located two nautical miles ( 4 km ) northeast of the central business district of Harvard , a city in Clay County , Nebraska , United States . It is owned by the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics . The airport serves the general aviation community , with no scheduled commercial airline service . History . Harvard Army Airfield was constructed in 1942 as a United States Army Air Forces military training airfield . The site is located in a farming area , and consists of . It was one of eleven training airfields in Nebraska during World War II . On 2 September 1942 , an announcement was made to the community of Harvard that a satellite Army Airfield would be located just northeast of Harvard . By September 17 construction began , farmers were removed from their properties , and by November 19 , the work was nearly . completed with 277 buildings and structures were constructed . It was a major World War II training center for bomber crews of the 2nd Air Force . Complete engine and air - frame repairs were available for B - 17 , B - 24 and B - 29 bombers at the five hangars on the field . Between August 1943 and December 1945 , twenty six bombardment squadrons received proficiency training at Harvard AAF The airfield was under the command of Second Air Force Headquarters , Colorado Springs , Colorado . The 521st Army Air Force Base Unit commanded the support elements at Harvard as part of Air Technical Service Command . The 521st was assigned to the 15th Bombardment Training Wing ( September 1943 - March 1944 ) , then transferred to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing in March 1944 for B - 29 training . The airfield was opened as a satellite base for Kearney AAF , but was soon scheduled for full - time operation as independent USAAF airfield . By early 1943 , the base was on a 24 - hour program of training Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B - 24 Liberator and crews for the European theater against the German Luftwaffe . In March 1944 , the Boeing B - 29 Superfortress made its way to Harvard Airfield for training . From mid - 1944 until May 1946 , Super Fortresses from the airfield trained aircrews over Nebraska ' s countryside before they were sent to the Pacific theater . At its peak , approximately 6 , 000 officers and enlisted men were stationed at the base for training purposes . In addition , many civilian workers from Harvard and several surrounding communities worked at the base in support of this gigantic training undertaking . Known groups which trained at Harvard were : Even after the surrender of the Japanese in September 1945 , the Harvard base remained active for a period , until the base was finally declared surplus property on 21 May 1946 and turned over to the State of Nebraska . At that time , all Army material was packed and shipped out . Other than the four hangars , most of the buildings , including barracks , gymnasium , picture show , Service Club , chapel , weather station , post exchange and many other building were either moved away or dismantled and sold for the lumber . Most of the area that was once the Harvard Army Airfield has reverted to agricultural purposes and the hangars are used for grain storage . In 1983 , three of the hangars were destroyed by fire , which was started by careless use of a cutting torch by a pair of teenagers who were dismantling the first hangar for salvage . A handful of wartime buildings still exist on the former military airfield . The housing erected by the federal government on the northeast edge of Harvard for personnel stationed at the base , most commonly referred to by Harvardites as " The Courts " or " Courts Addition , " has been a residential village for the citizens of Harvard for many years . Facilities and aircraft . Harvard State Airport covers an area of at an elevation of 1 , 815 feet ( 553 m ) above mean sea level . It has two runways : 17 / 35 is 3 , 745 by 60 feet ( 1 , 141 x 18 m ) with an asphalt pavement ; 14 / 32 is 3 , 900 by 150 feet ( 1 , 189 x 46 m ) with an turf surface . For the 12 - month period ending July 24 , 2008 , the airport had 1 , 570 aircraft operations , an average of 130 per month : 99 % general aviation and 1 % military .