Brooksville Army Airfield Brooksville Army Airfieldd , was a United States Army Air Forces airfield constructed during World War II , located southwest of Brooksville , Florida . History . The faciltiy was opened in November 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces . Constructed on 2 , 014 acres offered by the town of Brooksville , Brooksville Army Airfield was used as part of the Air University ' s Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics ( AAFSAT ) tactical combat simulation school in Central and Northern Florida in the early and mid - 1940s . It was assigned as a sub - base to the Orlando Army Air Base , with Brooksville AAF being used primarily as bomber training base . Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics . Operations at this field began in November 1942 with the arrival of the 1st Bombardment Squadron , which was transferred from the 9th Bombardment Group at Orlando AAB and equipped with the B - 17 Flying Fortress . The 1st Bomb Squadron engaged in advanced combat training for aircrews , flying mock combat missions against fighters of the 50th Fighter Group based at Orlando AAB . In early 1944 , the 1st Bomb Squadron was reassigned to Texas , where it began training as a B - 29 Superfortress squadron , destined for Twentieth Air Force in the Pacific Theater . In early 1944 , the 5th , 99th and 430th Bomb Squadrons were also sent to Brooksville from Orlando . The 5th , equipped with B - 24 Liberator s ; the 99th with B - 25 Mitchell s ; and the 430th with B - 26 Marauder medium bombers . All of these squadrons were also moved out to Texas in February 1944 , along with the 1st Bomb Squadron , minus their aircraft , which were left at Brooksville . Third Air Force . With the move of the 9th Bombardment Group squadrons , jurisdiction of Brooksville AAF was transferred from Training Command to III Bomber Command , stationed at MacDill Field near Tampa . In late 1943 , when Second Air Force began transitioning to B - 29 Superfortress training , the B - 17 mission returned to MacDill . Brooksville then became an auxiliary of MacDill Field and nearby Drew Army Airfield . The medium bomber training mission was moved from MacDill to Brooksville and the B - 17s formerly of AAFSAT were used by training crews from both MacDill and Drew for Replacement Crew Training . In an administrative reorganization by HQ Army Air Force on 1 May 1944 , numbered training units in the Zone of the Interior ( ZI ) ( i . e . , Continental United States ) were re - designated as " Army Air Force Base Units . " At Brooksville , the 377th Army Air Forces Base Unit was activated for operational training as well as station management . Bomber crews from Brooksville regularly made practice runs to the Avon Park Bombing Range and the Osprey Bombing Range . A tactical bombing school operated under the direction of AAFSAT from Orlando AAB remained , with the aircrews flying missions as part of the school . Closure . With the end of hostilities , Third Air Force sent down orders to close the facility . Jurisdiction of the airfield was transferred to Air Technical Service Command ( ATSC ) , whose mission was the transfer of any useful military equipment to other USAAF bases around the country . Under ATSC , buildings and equipment were sold to civilian governments and / or commercial entities and any useful military equipment transferred to other USAAF installations . The base was subsequently declared as surplus and turned over to the War Assets Administration ( WAA ) for disposal and return to civil use . Brooksville AAF became the Hernando County Airport in late 1945 and was renamed as Brooksville - Tampa Bay Regional Airport in 2013 . Only a large concrete bunker ( approximately 25 ’ x 100 ’ ) , used in testing and alignment of aircraft machine guns , and various aircraft parking " hard stands " ( also known as " keyholes " ) adjacent to the runways and taxiways remain from World War II .