Midland Army Airfield Midland Army Airfield is a former World War II military airfield , located 8 . 4 miles west - southwest of Midland , Texas . It operated as a Bombardier training school for the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 until 1945 . History . Origins . Midland Army Air Field was a World War II United States Army Air Forces bombardier - training base on U . S . Highway 80 halfway between Midland and Odessa in Midland County . It was originally named Sloan Field for Samuel Addison Sloan , who leased 240 acres of pastureland from Clarence Scharbauer , a rancher in October 1927 to establish a privately owned landing field and flying school . Sloan was killed in a plane crash on January 1 , 1929 , and the operation was continued by his brother and sister . Sloan Field was designated an Army Airways Station in May 1930 . In 1939 Harvey Sloan sold the Field to the City of Midland for $ 14 , 500 . Prominent businessmen in Midland could foresee the possibility of a military base in West Texas . In 1940 , after Hitler struck Poland , they started promoting the airport for use as a training base to the military establishment in Washington . Work was done by the WPA with more runway and taxiway improvements , as well as airfield lighting . A visit by Brigadier General G . C . Brant , Commander of the Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center at Randolph Field was made and he reported that the situation at Midland was very favorable . It was on Friday , June 13 , 1941 , that it was announced that Midland would get the air school . On July 1 , 1941 , the municipal airport was leased to the United States government for a dollar a year , and construction began on July 17 . Immediate search for ranch land to be used as target ranges was instigated and plans for " an advanced twin - engine flying and bombardment school " had begun . Ground was broken on July 15 , 1941 with the leasing of 1 , 030 acres of land for the duration of the war plus six months . Twenty - three bomb ranges were mapped out - located within a 50 mile radius of the base . One of the first structures to go up was the 500 , 000 gallon water tank which is still in use . Buildings for Headquarters , officer , enlisted and cadet barracks , a station hospital , classrooms , mess hall and flight line were all being erected by civilian employees . By the time the first enlisted man arrived in October 1941 , he found that 105 buildings were partially completed with the remaining 99 waiting to be started . In November 1941 , officers and enlisted men started arriving for duty . It was announced that training of cadets would begin in January 1942 . With the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 , the need for bombardiers was evident , soon after an announcement was made by Lieutenant Colonel Isaiah Davies , Commanding Officer of Midland Army Air Field ( MAAF ) , that the school would be used exclusively to train bombardiers . Operations . On September 26 , 1942 , the base was formally re - designated Midland Army Air Field , and the school was named the Army Air Forces Bombardier School , one of a dozen bombardier - training schools . It was one of the " West Texas Bombardier Quadrangle " schools of the Army Air Forces Training Command . The other bases in the quad were Childress Army Airfield , San Angelo Army Airfield and Big Spring Army Airfield . The sole purpose of the Bombardier College was to train young men to use the bombsight invented by Carl Norden . The first group of cadets , Class 42 – 6 , arrived for training from Ellington , Texas , on February 6 , 1942 . Midland reached a peak base population of more than 4 , 000 and graduated a total of 6 , 627 bombardier officers before all training ceased on January 1 , 1946 . Cadets remained at Midland exactly twelve weeks for combined ground and flight training , rigorous physical activity and rigid military discipline during a sixteen - hour day , with only part of Sunday off . They learned to hit targets with remarkable accuracy , dropping at least 200 practice bombs each from the AT - 11 airplane — and learned to handle the complex Norden sight with considerable skill . The first class consisted of 103 cadets and graduated on April 30 , 1942 . Students from the Netherlands , East Indies , France , Brazil and China were trained at MAF . In August 1943 the AAF Central Bombardier Instructor School was transferred from Carlsbad Army Airfield , New Mexico , to Midland . The base pioneered the use of the highly secret Norden bombsight and at one time operated twenty - three bombing ranges across West Texas . Personnel from Midland AAF were instrumental in developing photographic and sonic methods of scoring bomb hits and analyzing bombing proficiency . Closure . The air field was deactivated as a military installation on June 15 , 1946 , and returned to the city of Midland on July 1 , 1947 . Since that date , it has been improved and modernized and has become an increasingly busy commercial air terminal and transportation - distribution center .