During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers.

Most of these airfields were under the command of First Air Force

First Air Force

The First Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida....

 or the Army Air Forces Training Command

Air Training Command

Air Training Command is a former major command of the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force. ATC came into being as a redesignation of the Army Air Forces Training Command on July 1, 1946...

 (AAFTC) (A predecessor of the current-day United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 Air Education and Training Command

Air Education and Training Command

Air Education and Training Command was established July 1, 1993, with the realignment of Air Training Command and Air University. It is one of the U.S. Air Force's ten major commands and reports to Headquarters, United States Air Force....

). However the other USAAF support commands (Air Technical Service Command (ATSC); Air Transport Command (ATC) or Troop Carrier Command) commanded a significant number of airfields in a support roles.

It is still possible to find remnants of these wartime airfields. Many were converted into municipal airports, some were returned to agriculture and several were retained as United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 installations and were front-line bases during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

. Hundreds of the temporary buildings that were used survive today, and are being used for other purposes.

Major Airfields

Air Transport Command

• Minneapolis MAP, Minneapolis
  Minneapolis, Minnesota
  Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
  
  

Joint use USAAF/Civil Airport

Now: Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport

Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport

Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport is the largest and busiest airport in the five-state upper Midwest region of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.-Overview:...

 

Air Technical Service Command

• Holman Field/St. Paul MAP, St. Paul

Joint use USAAF/Civil Airport

Now: St. Paul Downtown Airport

St. Paul Downtown Airport

St. Paul Downtown Airport , also known as Holman Field, is an airport just across the Mississippi River from downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is one of several reliever airports in the Twin Cities operated by the Metropolitan Airports Commission...

 

Army Air Force Training Command

• Flynn Field/Lake Elmo APT, Lake Elmo
  Lake Elmo, Minnesota
  As of the census of 2000, there were 6,863 people, 2,347 households, and 1,924 families residing in the city. The population density was 300.4 people per square mile . There were 2,389 housing units at an average density of 104.6 per square mile...
  
  

Contract flying training

Now: Lake Elmo Airport

Lake Elmo Airport

Lake Elmo Airport is a public airport located just outside the city of Lake Elmo in Washington County, Minnesota, about 12 miles east of the central business district of St. Paul. The airport covers and has two runways. There are more than 54,000 takeoffs and landings annually, and 237 aircraft...

 

• Monticello AAF, Monticello
  Monticello, Minnesota
  Monticello is a city in Wright County, Minnesota, United States. Monticello was founded in 1856 and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2006. The population was 12,759 at the 2010 census. The name Monticello is derived from the Italian word for "Little Mountain," it translates literally to...
  
  

Contract flying training/Glider training

Now: Returned to agriculture.

• Lobb Field
  Lobb Field
  Lobb Field is a former airport and military airfield located within the city of Rochester, Minnesota.-History:Lobb Field, the original airport for Rochester, was established in 1928 by the Mayo Foundation as a way to get patients to the Mayo Clinic...
  
  /Rochester AAF, Rochester
  Rochester, Minnesota
  Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...
  
  

Contract flying training/Glider training

Closed 1961. Now: Industrial site.

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