The United States Navy bought and leased land in the middle of Kansas for a Naval Air Training
Base. I found this photo of a temporary tower on the internet (naturally.) The first trainers were small planes. Later they extended the runways at the local airport for use by the Liberator bombers which were located at the base in 1944. The actual base was south of town built on Mennonite farm land.
There were jokes about the Navy being in the middle of Kansas and about a thousand miles from any ocean, but the air bases out here were chosen for the many days of good flying weather. The Army's Smokey Hill at Salina, Olathe Naval Air Station and McConnell at Wichita are three that I remember.
McConnel actually started out as an army base but was later an air force base.
McConnel actually started out as an army base but was later an air force base.
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