Curtis Airfield was named for Harry Lamar Curtis, mayor of Brady, who instigated the offer of this field to the United States government during World War II. Born in 1903 in Dallas, H.L. Curtis was educated at the University of Dallas, Southern Methodist University, and Texas A&M. He married Marjorie McCall of Brady in 1929 and moved there after business successes in Dallas. He served on the city council from 1936 to 1940 and as mayor from 1940 to 1944. In 1940, Mayor Curtis obtained designation of Brady Airfield as a national defense airport, with funding for enlargement and hard-surfacing. The small old field was relinquished and this larger tract provided. The city paid about $40,000, and the federal grant was $141,631. Brady’s clear skies, dry climate, and freedom from commercial air traffic made it a favored site. A contract school moved there from Love Field, Dallas, on March 16, 1941, and became Brady Aviation School, ltd. Mayor Curtis led the city to grant free use of the field for ten years, with one dollar a year charged for utilities. Over 10,000 cadets trained there before the school closed in Aug. 1944. For some, this was a final duty: 21 cadets, six instructors, and a personnel officer lost their lives in accidents. It was one of 17 Texas civilian fields training military pilots during World War II.