Old Sloan Field, built in 1931, became Midland Army Flying School for bombardier cadets in 1942. At one time it was called the largest bombardier training center in the world. One of more than 25 World War II airfields in Texas, its cadets flew 861,510 hours in Beech AT-11 aircraft and dropped 1,245,107 bombs. The last class of cadets graduated in Jan. 1945, and the field was used as an Army Air Forces bombardier instructor school until World War II ended later that year. After the military phase-out in 1947, a commercial field opened in 1950.