Hendricks Field was a United States Army Air Force base at the geographic center of what is now the Sebring International Raceway, operating under the jurisdiction of the 76th Flying Training Wing from 1942 to 1945. Construction began in July 1941, and in January 1942 the base was named for First Lieutenant Laird W. Hendricks, a native Floridian and graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, who was killed while training with the Royal Air Force in England before the United States entered World War II. The first B-17 Flying Fortress arrived in January, and Hendricks Field expanded rapidly to train several thousand soldiers as combat crews, ground support personnel, and in other essential wartime roles. Many graduates died on the European and Pacific fronts. After World War II ended, the base was deactivated in January 1946 and transferred to the City of Sebring in May 1946 to become the Sebring Air Terminal.