During World War II, generally flat terrain, thermal activity, dry clear skies, and a local bond that purchased more than 3,000 acres southwest of Dalhart led to the opening of Dalhart Army Air Field in May 1942 as a U.S. Army Air Forces glider school. While the field was under construction, the command’s temporary headquarters operated from a tent city in Amarillo, and by September 1942 cadets had begun training on the Waco CG-4A “Hadrian” glider, practicing takeoff, flight while in tow behind C-47s on 350 feet of nylon rope, holding position on a double tow, recovery techniques involving being snatched by a tow aircraft flying overhead, and infantry skills for service as combat soldiers after landing. In March 1943 the glider school transferred to South Plains Army Air Field in Lubbock, and the field’s mission shifted to training B-17 bomber crews as replacements for losses in the European theater, with cadets flying practice missions over Panhandle target areas while fighter cadets practiced bomber escort duty at two satellite fields, Aux. #1 at Hartley and Aux. #2 at Dallam, built in 1943. By early 1944, as strategic bombing needs shifted to the Pacific, several B-29 bombardment groups trained there for deployment, including the 393rd Bomb Squadron, 504th Bombardment Group, later selected by Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. as the core of a unit trained to drop atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. In little more than three years, the field and Dallam and Hartley counties were shaped by the changing demands of the U.S. war effort, and in December 1945 the field closed, ending the U.S. Army Air Forces presence in the two counties.