on January 5, 1943, Pyote rapidly turned out crews proficient in hitting targets from the B-17 Flying Fortress until the summer of 1944, when it was switched to the B-29 Superfortress. The 19th BG was the first air force unit to bomb Japanese targets. It flew to Pyote directly from combat in the Pacific. The base was redesignated the 19th Combat Crew Training School' late in 1943, and then replaced on March 30, 1944, by the 236th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Combat Crew Training School). Known B-17 units trained at Pyote AAB were: 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy) 3 January - 5 April 1943 96th Bombardment Group (Heavy) January - March 1943 In June 1945, the base claimed records for the most B-29 training hours flown by any base in a single month (7,396), in a week (1,873), and in a day (321). Known B-29 groups which trained at Pyote AAB were: 301st Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) 454th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) With the end of the war in the Pacific in August 1945, both of these groups were inactivated. Postwar use Aircraft storage depot Control of Pyote was transferred from the Fourth Air Force to the Air Technical Service Command / San Antonio Air Technical Service Command on November 15, 1945, at the end of the war. The base became an aircraft storage depot. During the postwar years, the temporary tar-paper and wooden buildings were largely sold off, with the personnel using more substantial concrete structures for their duties along with the hangars and support buildings by the flightline ramp. At its peak in 1948, Pyote Air Force Base' was maintained by the 4141st Army Air Forces (later Air Force) Base Unit, and housed 2,042 stored planes, mostly B-29s and B-17s, but including B-25s, A-26s, C-47s, P-63s, P-51s, AT-7s, L-5s, and L-4s. Aircraft storage and the cocooning of some of these planes was the last major activity at Pyote Airfield, which was the responsibility of the 2753d Aircraft Storage Squadron. Storage included not only preserving planes for future use, but also transferring some of the stored planes to other Air Force units for their use. Corrosion control crews removed, cleaned, and treated the turrets in all of the B-29s. The aircraft were "cocooned" to seal out the elements from the interior, and the aircraft were kept in flyable reserve storage. Best known of all the aircraft stored at Pyote