In the late 1930s, area aviation enthusiasts organized Plainview Flying Club and acquired a two-seat Aeronca Chief with a 65-horsepower engine. Their first site was six miles south of Plainview, later moving north of Plainview near Finney Switch. In September 1940, the city of Plainview and Hale County jointly purchased 320 acres there for a municipal airport named Finney Field. When the U.S. entered World War II, pilot training accelerated, and Clent Breedlove, a civilian contractor in the federal government's Civilian Pilot Training Program since 1939, contracted in May 1942 to train pre-glider students there. Plainview Pre-Glider School, officially 4th Army Air Forces Glider Training Detachment, was activated on June 1, 1942. The facility had two runways and 23 buildings, including headquarters, hangars, barracks, a mess hall, and a medical clinic, as well as three auxiliary airfields within nine miles. As a primary school, it trained student pilots with an instructor on board to fly powered aircraft to altitudes of 1,000 to 5,000 feet, cut engine power, and steer and land in dead stick mode. After a four-week course, students advanced to glider training, often at Army air fields at Dalhart, Fort Sumner, or Victorville. A total of 1,169 pre-glider students trained there, and 876 completed the course. Finney Field then shifted to a liaison pilot program for another 241 students and remained open until April 14, 1943, when Breedlove moved the operation to Lamesa. Ralph Brown and Claude Hutcherson later converted the field into a private airport offering aerial service, private lessons, and charter flights, and the site was later used by Cloverlake Dairy. Finney Field is remembered for its local contributions to aviation and its international impact in military training.