Scribner State Airport Scribner State Airport is a public use airport located three nautical miles ( 6 km ) southeast of the central business district of Scribner , a city in Dodge County , Nebraska , United States . It is owned by the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics . Facilities and aircraft . Scribner State Airport covers an area of at an elevation of 1 , 325 feet ( 404 m ) above mean sea level . It has two runways with concrete surfaces : 17 / 35 is 4 , 200 by 75 feet ( 1 , 280 x 23 m ) and 12 / 30 is 3 , 199 by 60 feet ( 975 x 18 m ) . For the 12 - month period ending August 22 , 2007 , the airport had 2 , 600 aircraft operations , an average of 216 per month : 96 % general aviation and 4 % military . At that time there were 21 aircraft based at this airport : 67 % single - engine and 33 % ultralight . History . Scribner State Airport was constructed in 1942 as a United States Army Air Forces military training airfield . The site is located south of the Elkhorn River and is surrounded by low rolling hills on the east , north and west . Agriculture is the main industry of the area . The first official news that Scribner Army Airfield would be constructed came on 1 October 1942 , with eviction notices given to area farmers shortly thereafter . Construction soon began , with two runways completed by 26 November 1942 . 87 buildings and structures were constructed . The base was officially opened on 9 December 1942 . Scribner AAF was one of eleven training airfields in Nebraska , and came under the command of Second Air Force . It was initially designated as a satellite base to Sioux City Army Air Base , Iowa , though by 1943 it became an independent base , with Ainsworth Army Airfield , Nebraska , being designated as Scribner ' s satellite . The 4316th Army Air Force Base Unit had host unit responsibilities at Schribner . In December 1942 , the Base Commander was Major A . J . Guffanti . The field ' s primary mission was to provide aircrew training for B - 17 Flying Fortress and B - 24 Liberator bomber air crews . In addition , P - 47 Thunderbolt fighter pilots completed proficiency training at Scribner before reassignment to the European Theater of Operations . Crews that used Scribner Army Airfield included the following : Schribner also became a camouflage school . By 1943 the entire airfield was camouflaged to look like a farm and small village to prove that an airfield could be hidden from the enemy . The hangar was painted red to resemble a barn , chicken wire was stuffed with green colored spun glass to resemble trees , and a mock silo beside the barn really housed the sliding hangar doors . Another building was given a steeple and painted to resemble a church , and a " school house " was built with spun - glass children . Even the runways were coated with tar and coated with wood chips and ground corncobs , and painted green or brown , depending on the season . The USAAF training airfield closed on 31 December 1945 and the State of Nebraska acquired the Airfield property from the U . S . Government in 1946 . By 1951 , word came that the then surplus Scribner Air Base was being considered as the site of a proposed United States Air Force Academy . This did not happen , however , the U . S . Air Force acquired for installation of an ionosphere sounding station . This High Frequency radio receiver site did operate and is in fact still in operation as an unmanned annex of Offutt AFB . During this same era , some of the old WW - II era temporary barracks and administrative facilities , located near the HF receiver site , was known as " Site - X " — an emergency relocation site for Headquarters , Strategic Air Command at Offutt AFB , in use until SAC ' s underground command post at Offutt became operational . The detachment operated until 30 April 1959 , when it was discontinued . The remainder of the former Airfield was rented out . Nebraska Department of Aeronautics continues to operate the airfield , leasing storage and small segments of land to local concerns . A United States Air Force communications center is also located on the site . Scribner State Airfield currently has two active runways . A few wartime buildings still are in use , along with the remains of the wartime runways .