Aug. 4, 1940

What is now known as Craig Field Airport and Industrial Complex was initially known as Selma Army Air Base. The facility became active on this day in 1940 and was used to train pilots for World War II. For 37 years, it served as a training facility for the United States Army Air Corps. It now operates as a general-aviation airport for Selma residents.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Army Air Corps Cadets are seen before a training flight at Craig Field, Southeastern Air Training Center, in Selma, Dallas County, in August 1941. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Library of Congress, photograph by John Collier)

Army quarters at Craig Field, Southeastern Air Training Center, Selma, 1941. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Flight instructors E.E. McTaggart, left, and J.C. Gumison converse before takeoff at the Craig Field Southeastern Air Training Center in Selma in August 1941. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Library of Congress, photograph by John Collier)

Engineers perform maintenance on an airplane at Craig Field near Selma, ca. 1942. The field was built during the lead-up to World War II to train cadets to fly single-engine aircraft and named to honor Bruce Kilpatrick Craig, a Selma native and officer of the Infantry Reserve who was killed in a plane crash in 1941. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Air Force Historical Research Agency)

Cadets ready to get into their planes at Craig Field, Southeastern Air Training Center, Selma, 1941. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.