Dateland Air Force Auxiliary Field Dateland Air Force Auxiliary Field is an abandoned military airfield located 40 miles east of Yuma , Arizona . Its last known military use was in 1957 Military use . World War II . The airfield was established on 1 January 1943 as a United States Army Air Forces training airfield , being under the command of the 3037th Army Air Force Base Unit , AAF Western Flying Training Command . Dateland was a sub - Post of Yuma Army Airfield , Arizona . Colfred , Stovall and Welton Gunnery rangers were also established nearby . Dateland was originally designed for single engine aircraft gunnery training , but was converted to twin engine gunnery school in September 1943 because single - engine gunnery was no longer an important part of the training program . The site was chosen due to the availability of water and the adjacent location of the Yuma Gunnery Range . Construction was completed on 1 June 1943 , and the facility was first garrisoned on 8 July 1943 . Facilities constructed at the site between 1943 - 1946 were 95 buildings , 3 runways , 4 taxiways , a gasoline station , water system , electrical distribution system , sewage disposal system and perimeter fences . Construction of four skeet ranges was authorized at the Dateland AAF however , in a letter dated November 27 , 1942 , two of the skeet ranges were removed from the construction plans . In addition , a request to construct a target butt range at the site was approved on December 17 , 1942 . The target butt range was originally planned for construction at the Advanced Single Engine School in Yuma AAF Arizona ; however , the decision was made to conduct all gunnery training and related functions at Dateland . According to the INPR Supplement , the target butt and double skeet ranges first appear on a January 1943 map of the site . Construction of the target butt range was scheduled for completion in April 1943 and the double skeet range was scheduled to be completed in June 1943 . A Field Progress Report for Dateland , period ending June 30 , 1943 , indicates that both the target butt range and double skeet range were complete . In September 1943 , plans were initiated for reconstruction of the site to accommodate both two and four - engine aircraft . A refresher fixed gunnery course for single - engine pilots ( P - 63 , P - 39 , and P - 40 ) flying pursuit gunnery missions was started at Dateland AAF in December 1944 . In addition to the security and maintenance of the base , the airmen provided services for several flying organizations , among those being Mather Army Airfield which based 60 North American B - 25J Mitchell aircraft from 25 December 1943 to 20 January 1944 , logging a total of 11 , 000 hours of flight training . The refresher fixed gunnery course was scheduled to conclude in January 1945 , and the base was reduced to caretaker status on 31 October 1945 , and was left with a contingent of 12 men and an officer to maintain the base . For many years the airfield was used for storage of various aircraft components . Dateland AAF was declared surplus to the requirements of the War Department , effective December 17 , 1945 . However , the site was withdrawn from surplus on August 27 , 1946 , designated as a Class III auxiliary installation , and assigned as a sub - base of Williams Army Airfield in Chandler , Arizona . Cold War . Designated Dateland Air Force Auxiliary Field in 1948 , in the early 1950s Dateland AFAS was used by various special forces squadrons of the MATS Air Resupply And Communications Service for training . In 1957 the hangar and the other flight line buildings mysteriously burned down , and the Air Force sent in an investigation team to do an inventory on the B - 25 parts and found none . The officer in charge was court martialed and the base was closed permanently in 1957 . In 1958 Dateland AFAF was inactivated . The majority of the site was conveyed by quitclaim deed to three private landowners . The deeds contained no restrictions and no restoration provisions for the land . Civil use . The airfield and all of its real estate was auctioned off in 1960 to private parties . In 1970 Dateland was subdivided into 3 , 300 lots leaving the airport intact . One owner was going to subdivide the airport area into lots and build small lakes . The airfield was apparently reopened as a private airfield at some point between 1971 – 77 , however it was closed . The present owners bought the Dateland property in 1995 and saved the airport from extinction . They planned to redevelop the airfield as a fly - in community , El Camino Del Sol Airpark , taking advantage of the extensive airfield facilities abandoned by the military . The developers touted Dateland as " the largest fly - in community in the USA " , with a total of 427 lots having taxiway connections to the airfield , and a concrete ramp area big enough to park 300 planes . A motel and a museum were among the planned attributes . Unfortunately , the commercial venture to reopen Dateland as a residential airpark had evidently failed . The remains of a sales trailer / office in the southwest corner of the airfield was boarded up and abandoned , which indicates this venture must not have been successful . The remains of 3 runways still exist ( 6 / 24 , 16 / 34 , and the longest - 1 / 19 , 6 , 600 ' long ) , along with a large concrete ramp area . The only building remaining is a sand - filled concrete bunker previously used to sight the machine guns of the B - 25 Mitchell bombers .