Craig Air Force Base Craig Air Force Base near Selma , Alabama , was a U . S . Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training ( UPT ) base that closed in 1977 . As an active air force base , Craig had two parallel runways , a large aircraft parking ramp and several large maintenance hangars . Today the facility is a civilian airport known as Craig Field Airport and Industrial Complex ( ICAO : KSEM ; FAA : SEM ) . Units assigned . The last unit assigned to Craig AFB was the 29th Flying Training Wing ( 29th FTW ) , which was activated on 29 March 1972 , absorbing the assets and personnel of the 3615th FTW . Flying training squadrons of the wing were : The 29th FTW provided undergraduate pilot training ( UPT ) and operated the facilities on the base . Aircraft flown by the wing were Cessna T - 37s and Northrup T - 38s . The last class graduated in mid - August 1977 . The 29th FTW was inactivated with the closure of the base on 30 September 1977 . History . The naming of the base was important to the nearby city of Selma , and several names for the airfield were considered . The name finally chosen was to honor 1st Lt Bruce Kilpatrick Craig , who was killed while acting as a civilian flight test engineer with the Consolidated Aircraft Company when the British LB - 30 Liberator , " AL503 " , he was on an acceptance flight in crashed into San Diego Bay on 2 June 1941 . He was born in Selma and was initially commissioned as an officer in the Infantry Reserve prior to transferring to the Army Air Forces and attending flight training . Origins . What would become Craig Air Force Base was established before World War II to accommodate the growing number of pilot trainees . At that time , the Army Air Corps was rapidly expanding and it was clear that additional facilities would be needed for all phases of pilot training . Originally cotton fields and cattle - grazing land , in 1940 , the city of Selma purchased the land in 1940 , then leased it to the United States Government . The building of Selma Army Air Base began in August 1940 , and proceeded rapidly so that by December there were about forty structures on the new base . Since there were no barracks yet available , the troops slept in tents and their headquarters was in an old cafe . By December , the runways were under construction . Buildings on the new airfield were constructed out of a concrete block type material and featured a screened porch that ran across the length of the building . These were rather luxurious accommodations for the time . To make the grounds more attractive and the new field a bit more pleasing to the cadets , many of the mature trees were saved during the construction process . Even though construction had just begun and the field was not ready for training , it was activated on August 4 , 1940 . The mission of the new airfield was the training of aviation cadets in the advanced phase of flying training . Selma AAB was assigned to the AAF Southeast Training Center , with the Army Air Force Pilot School ( Advanced Single - Engine ) activated ( phase 3 pilot training ) . In this phase , the cadets flew fighters and fighter - bombers . Pilot wings were awarded upon graduation and were sent on to group combat training by First , Second , Third or Fourth Air Force . Graduates were usually graded as Flight Officers ( Warrant Officers ) ; cadets who graduated at the top of their class were graded as Second Lieutenants . In addition to the main airfield , the following known sub - bases and auxiliaries were used : The training began in the early spring of 1941 and used two temporary runways because the permanent runways were not finished ; the first runway would not be done until October . By early May there were about 53 AT - 6 Texans assigned to the base along with some other aircraft . During this period , conditions were primitive , meaning that the aircraft maintenance work was done outside . By late April , parts of the parking apron had been completed and some work was being done in the main hangar . At that time most of the aircraft maintenance workers ( sheet metal workers , mechanics , parachute riggers , etc . ) were from Wright Field in Dayton , Ohio , and were a mixture of civilians and military personnel . Craig Field was commanded by the 57th Army Air Force Base Unit . Army Air Force pilot training in 1941 was still considered as being peacetime and included a seventy - hour flying course . Its first graduating class of 1941 , the 39 cadets of Class 41D , completed the training course seven months before the United States ' entry into World War II . The Air Corps Advanced Flying School ( Advanced Single - Engine ) at Craig consisted of : World War II . With the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 training was accelerated to speed the flow of pilots into combat . In total Craig Field graduated more than 9 , 000 pilots before the end of the war . Craig Field also saw a number of British Royal Air Force cadets through their training . By 1943 , 1 , 392 RAF cadets had earned their wings at Craig Field . In addition , French and Dutch pilots were trained at Craig Field . On 8 January 1943 , the War Department constituted and activated the 28th Flying Training Wing ( Advanced Single - Engine ) at Craig and assigned it to the AAF Eastern Flying Training Command . In November 1943 , Craig was selected to give advanced single engine training and Curtiss P - 40 transition training to the French . Craig Field also gave training in the Martin B - 26 Marauder . Many of these students had formally served in the French North African Army or had left France after the armistice and earned the opportunity to become pilots . At this time , Craig Field was also teaching fighter transition training using the Curtiss P - 40 . By late 1944 , Craig Field was involved in three major areas of training : Advanced - Single Engine pilot training , P - 40 Transition training , and a Preflight Program for French students . During 1945 , the training activities at Craig Field continued , but the classes were smaller , because of the need for fewer pilots . With the end of the war in August 1945 , came the end of training of American cadets . The training of French students continued through 1945 , and was ended in January 1946 . Cold War . Following the war , the mission of Craig Field changed from time to time , but it remained primarily a training base . When the U . S . Air Force was established as a separate service in 1947 , Craig Field was renamed Craig Air Force Base . With the desperate need for additional pilots created by the Korean War , Craig AFB was once again placed in the pilot training business by initiating the 3615th Pilot Training Wing in September 1950 . The program stopped its basic single engine training in 1953 and focused its efforts on pilot instructor training . By 1966 , Craig AFB was an undergraduate pilot training base ( UPT ) . In 1972 , the by then - 3615th Flying Training Wing was redesignated as the 29th Flying Training Wing ( 29 FTW ) of the Air Training Command and operated T - 41 , T - 37 and T - 38 training aircraft . Representative of the time , Undergraduate Pilot Training Class 68 - H , " The Haranguers , " graduated with more than 50 new pilots in June 1968 . Most of the pilots entered the " pipeline " for assignments to Vietnam in a variety of aircraft , including the F - 4C , F - 4E Phantom II , RF - 4C Phantom II , C - 47 , C - 7 and C - 123 . Other pilots went to C - 130 , C - 141 , B - 52 and KC - 135 assignments . In addition to Air Force student pilots , the class included students from the Marine Corps , the Air National Guard and the former Imperial Iranian Air Force . Closure . Perhaps the most dominant feature on the ATC landscape in 1974 was the serious fuel shortage the command had to contend with for much of the year . The shortage arose when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sent oil prices skyrocketing by cutting back on production . Almost overnight , the price of aviation fuel tripled . To conserve fuel , ATC made numerous adjustments to the UPT syllabus at bases such as Craig , including a reduction in the number of sorties and flying hours and an increased reliance on the use of synthetic trainers . In other efforts to cope with the crisis , the Air Force also cut overall pilot production goals by 18 percent , characterized by USAF Officer Training School ( OTS ) not accepting any pilot applicants for FY 75 , and the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps ( AFROTC ) initiating a Reduction in Force ( RIF ) program in its college / university cadet program . Under the latter initiative , AFROTC rescinded previously promised pilot training and navigator training slots for approximately 75 % of the cadets in commissioning Year Groups 75 , 76 and 77 originally slated for flight training , re - directing them into non - aeronautically rated career fields or offering them opportunities to resign and transfer to officer flight training programs of the Navy , Marine Corps , Coast Guard or Army . USAF Academy cadets / graduates were never subjected to any of the RIF actions experienced by AFROTC cadets / graduates and were never impacted by these reductions in USAF flight training production . By the mid - 1970s , the end of the Vietnam War , the associated financial costs of that conflict and related cuts in force size and future defense budgets meant a marked decrease in the need for Air Force pilots . One of the major issues facing the ATC commander and his staff during 1976 was the prospect of closing two UPT bases . Rather than reduce training production at all seven UPT locations , ATC officials believed it to be more economical to close two UPT bases . In 1974 , Craig AFB was selected as one of two UPT bases to be closed in a post - Vietnam economic move . In 1977 , Air Training Command closed Craig Air Force Base along with Webb Air Force Base in Texas . Craig ' s 29th Flying Training Wing was inactivated on September 30 , 1977 and the field was placed on caretaker status the next day . Current use . After the base closed , the airfield was converted into a civil airport for Selma , Alabama and renamed the Craig Field Airport and Industrial Complex .