In preparation for the eventual U.S. entry into World War II, Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold sought to expand the nation’s combat air forces by having civilian flight schools provide primary training for air cadets. At twenty sites in Texas, flight schools contracted to build facilities for housing and training new pilots. The city of Stamford bought land that had once been part of Swante Magnus Swenson’s SMS Ranch for an air field, and it was named for Stamford businessman Roy Wade Arledge, who headed the committee that purchased the site in December 1940. Construction began in early spring 1941 under agreement with the first training contractor, the Lou Foote Flying Service of Grand Prairie, Texas, and Coleman Flying School, Ltd. later assumed the contract for the rest of the war. The field was formally dedicated on May 17-18, 1941, and the first cadet class began on March 15, 1941. Civilian flying and ground school instructors trained air cadets there using Stearman PT-17s and Fairchild PT-19As, while military personnel from the 308th Army Air Forces Training Detachment provided military instruction. After a twelve-week course, graduating cadets moved to larger air bases for basic and advanced flight training by Air Corps instructors. The final cadet class graduated on September 30, 1944, and in 1947 the Reconstruction Finance Corporation transferred the field’s buildings and equipment to the city of Stamford for use as a public airport.