Greenville Air Force Base ( Mississippi ) Greenville Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Greenville , Mississippi . It was closed in the 1960s and redeveloped into Mid - Delta Regional Airport . History . World War II . In February 1940 , a United States Army Air Corps site selection board picked Greenville , Mississippi , as the location of a training center for the Second Aviation Initiative . By mid - June construction at the , 140 building site was in full progress . The Air Corps activated Greenville Army Airfield in August 1940 , only two months after construction commenced . The first planes arrived on 5 November , and the training of pilots began . The airfield had many auxiliary landing fields to support pilot training : The Army Air Forces Pilot Training School ( Basic ) conducted contract flying training until inactivated in March 1945 . The airfield was reactivated on 5 June 1945 and was transferred to Air Technical Service Command , becoming a sub - base of Brookley Army Airfield , Alabama . ATSC used Greenville as a storage depot for returning Eighth and Fifteenth Air Force B - 24 Liberator s . During the summer , C - 47 s returning from Europe were also sent to Greenville for storage . Aircraft operations at the base consisted mostly of test flights , and flying stored aircraft to reclamation facilities . Storage of other types of aircraft began after the end of the war in September , with all the stored aircraft moved out by the end of June 1946 . Greenville Army Airfield was inactivated on 22 July 1946 and turned over to the War Assets Administration for disposal . Cold War . The airfield was operated as a civilian airport in the late 1940s , however to handle increased pilot requirements for the Korean War , the United States Air Force Air Training Command activated the former World War II airfield as Greenville Air Base , on 1 December 1950 to be used as stations for contract flying schools . However , contract flying squadrons were not established until 1951 when the 3300th Flying Training Squadron was activated . ATC activated Graham Air Base Florida in January 1953 to replace Greenville Air Base as a contract primary pilot training School . Greenville was redesignated as Greenville Air Force Base and became a full , Air Training Command basic single - engine pilot training school , with the 3505th Pilot Training Wing ( Basic , Single - Engine ) as its operational training unit . Instruction was begun in April 1953 flying T - 28 Trojan s . The wing was upgraded to jet trainers in 1955 when T - 33 Shooting Star s arrived . On 1 December 1960 , pilot training at Greenville was discontinued and the 3505th Pilot Training Wing was inactivated . The T - 33s were sent to the new Consolidated Pilot Training school at Craig Air Force Base , Alabama . Air Training Command initially wanted to close the base , however , owing to political pressure , several technical training courses were transferred to the base and the facility became a Technical Training Center for ATC . Between November 1960 and mid - 1961 , Greenville received six personnel courses from Lackland Air Force Base , Texas and two fire protection courses from Lowry Air Force Base , Colorado under the new 3505th Technical Training Wing . In 1962 , several medical courses were also reassigned to Greenville from Lackland . In December 1963 , Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara announced that Greenville would be closed in 1965 as part of budgetary reductions . During 1964 , activities at Greenville began to be phased down , initially by downgrading the 3505th to group status and moving medical courses to Gunter Air Force Station , Alabama ; personnel courses moved to Amarillo Air Force Base , Texas and firefighting courses to Chanute Air Force Base , Illinois . On 1 April 1964 , the 3505th TTG was inactivated . Greenville Air Force Base was placed in caretaker status , being assigned as a sub - base to Keesler Air Force Base . De - militarization activities were commenced and the military part of the airport was returned to full civilian control on 27 December 1966 .