Dale Mabry Army Airfield Dale Mabry Army Airfield , was a World War II United States Army Air Force located at the Dale Mabry Field airport in Tallahassee , Florida . The military airfield closed in 1946 and the airport was returned to civil use . History . The military use of Tallahassee Dale Mabry Field began in 1938 when the United States Army Air Corps established a contract flying school at the airport . In 1940 U . S . Senator Claude Pepper and Florida Governor Spessard Holland influenced the Army to make Dale Mabry Field a United States Army Air Force airfield as part of the buildup of the military prior to the United States entry into World War II . The airfield was named after Captain Dale Mabry of Tallahassee , who during World War I , experimented with the use of Balloons . In October 1940 military activity began with the construction of a railroad siding and drainage improvements to overcome the swamp conditions at the site . Hundreds of laborers began clearing swampland for temporary quarters for Dale Mabry Army Airfield . The need for a place to train pilots prompted the federal government to set a 90 - day completion deadline snd construction began that month . The Army constructed three concrete runways to serve their needs . The field was described as having 2 paved runways . One runway was running northwest to southeast and a second was running north to south . Another sand & sod runway ran east to west . In addition , several sub - bases and auxiliary airfields were assigned : The base became a nearly self - sufficient city , with several runways , barracks , officers ’ quarters , mess hall , hangars , a hospital , a church and a bowling alley . Originally , the airfield grew to and 133 buildings during the course of the war . Training activity peaked in mid - 1944 with base complement averaging 1 , 300 officers , 3 , 000 enlisted men & women , and 800 civilian employees . Students at Dale Mabry also used a gunnery base at Alligator Point and a bombing range at Sopchoppy on the Gulf for their training needs . In addition to being a military airfield , Eastern Airlines and National Airlines continued to use Mabry despite being closed to general aviation during World War II . Initial use . The field was activated on 13 January 1941 and placed under the jurisdiction of the Southeast Air District ( later Third Air Force ) . It was assigned to the III Interceptor ( later Fighter ) Command on 17 June 1941 . The 42d Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron was the host military unit at the new field . Construction delays limited the operational use of the field during 1941 . The first flying organization at the field was the 53d Pursuit Group ( Interceptor ) which moved from MacDill Field near Tampa in December 1941 . The 53d remained briefly at Dale Mabry , moving to Charleston Army Airfield , South Carolina at the end of the month for overseas movement to Panama as part of the buildup of the defenses of the Panama Canal . Fighter training . The first unit to train at Dale Mabry Field was the 79th Fighter Group , which was formed at the field in early February 1942 and equipped with Curtiss P - 40 Warhawk s . It then moved to Morris Field , North Carolina , in early May 1942 . It was replaced by the 81st Fighter Group which moved from Morris Field in early May . The 81st was equipped with Bell P - 39 Aircobra s . It trained until the end of June before moving to Muroc Field in California , in preparation for deployment to the South Pacific . However it was instead , deployed to Egypt . The 58th Fighter Group , which had arrived in March 1942 , was the first Operational Training Unit ( OTU ) permanently assigned to Dale Mabry AAF . It was equipped with Curtiss P - 40 Warhawks and provided advanced combat training to new pilots which had graduated from Training Command advanced flight schools who were assigned to the 79th and 81st Fighter Groups . In June 1942 , the 58th was chosen to become a combat group and it was moved to Morris Field in July for combat training and also deployed to Egypt . With the 58th Being prepared for overseas deployment , III Fighter Command formed the 338th Fighter Group at Mabry to replace the 58th FG . With the P - 40s being taken by the outgoing group , four squadrons P - 39 Aircobra s were assigned to the Group for the training mission . However Dale Mabry was unable to support the large number of aircraft and in September 1942 , the 305th Fighter Squadron was reassigned to Sarasota Army Airfield to be a training unit while remaining under the control of the 338th FG . On 13 June 1943 , the 307th and 441st Fighter Squadron s were transferred to the Perry Army Airfield sub - base of Dale Mabry to conduct training , while remaining under the control of Group Headquarters . With the reassignment of the two squadrons to Perry , the 305th returned to Dale Mabry , with the number of training squadrons at the base returning to two ( 305th and 306th ) . Sometime in 1942 , the 99th Fighter Squadron under the command of Lt . Col . Benjamin Davis received advanced training at Mabry Field . In 1942 and 1944 Chinese Air Force & Free French Air Force Air cadet s trained at Dale Mabry Field , using the gunnery range at Alligator Point and the bombing range at Sopchoppy . Combat training was upgraded to the P - 47 Thunderbolt in the fall of 1943 , as well as P - 51 Mustangs as soon as they became available . In an administrative reorganization by HQ Army Air Force , on 1 May 1944 , numbered training units in the Zone of the Interior ( ZI ) ( Continental United States ) were re - designated as " Army Air Force Base Units " . At Dale Mabry , the 338th Fighter Group was inactivated , and replaced by the 335th Army Air Force Base Unit ( Replacement Training Unit , Fighter ) , the squadrons being designated as " A " and " B " . Several bases in Florida , including Dale Mabry , served as detention centers for German prisoners - of - war ( POWs ) in the latter part of 1944 and 1945 . At its apex , 150 POWs were interned at the base . Air Service Command used Dale Mabry for training of numerous Service Groups from 1941 until 1943 prior to their overseas deployment . In addition Air Material Command established a maintenance sub - depot to maintain the training aircraft assigned to the base . Closure . III Fighter Command fighter training ended on 31 May 1945 , and the 335th AAFBU was converted into a Ground Training Unit . With the Japanese Surrender in August 1945 , demobilization became the major activity at the base , with many personnel being separated and returning to civilian life . In the fall of 1945 , jurisdiction of Dale Mabry AAF was transferred to Air Technical Service Command ( ATSC ) , whose mission was the transfer of any useful military equipment to other bases around the country . The base was closed and declared as surplus in 1946 , being was turned over to the War Assets Administration ( WAA ) for disposal and return to civil use . The Air Force retained a communications facility at the base until March 1946 when the airport was fully returned to Civil Control . Over 8 , 000 pilots from Europe , China and the United States trained here in P - 39s , P - 40s , P - 47s and P - 51s . There is a historic site marker now at the edge of the NW / SE runway near the point where planes took off or landed . Over a dozen pilots died in accidents while learning how to fire at targets such as a giant , plywood “ bull ’ s eye ” at Alligator Point to the south . During 1943 , 79 , 000 family members came to Tallahassee , then a town of 16 , 000 , to visit pilots - in - training . Today , some sections of the base ’ s asphalt runway are still visible , as are several concrete tie - down pads .