intermediate field (#59). It operated as a United States Army Air Forces primary (phase 1) pilot training field by a detachment of the 51st Flying Training Group, Greenville Army Airfield, Mississippi. In addition to the main field, the following known sub-bases and auxiliaries were used: Albright Auxiliary Field (undetermined location) Foster Auxiliary Field Knauer Auxiliary Field Moody Auxiliary Field Rice Auxiliary Field Pilot training was provided under contract by the Alabama Institute of Aeronautics, Inc. Flying training was performed primarily with Fairchild PT-19s, in addition to PT-17 Stearmans and a few P-40 Warhawks. Beginning in June 1943, Free French Air Force flight cadets began to arrive at the school for Primary flight training, having graduated from the preflight screening school at Craig Field. Military operations were inactivated on September 8, 1944, with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. Free French training was transferred to the Hawthorne School of Aeronautics, Orangeburg, South Carolina. The airfield was turned over to city control at the end of the war though the War Assets Administration. Commercial air service Runway 11/29 was paved in the early 1950s. A northeast–southwest runway (4/22) was built in 1970, along with a passenger terminal, to facilitate jet service. Airline service to Tuscaloosa began on June 10, 1949, on a 25-seat Douglas DC-3 as one of the original six destinations served by Southern Airways. Southern later served Tuscaloosa with Martin 4-0-4 piston-powered propeller aircraft and then introduced Douglas DC-9-10 jet service by 1972. Service would peak in the mid-1970s with four daily departures to Atlanta, Memphis and New Orleans. According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), in early 1976 Southern was operating four DC-9 jet flights a day into the airport with two nonstops from Atlanta as well as two nonstops from Columbus, MS in addition to a daily nonstop Martin 4-0-4 flight from Atlanta, two Martin 4-0-4 nonstops from Columbus, MS, a nonstop Martin 4-0-4 flight from Tupelo, MS and three direct Martin 4-0-4 flights a day from Memphis via Columbus or Tupelo for a total of eight flights on weekdays. In 1979 Southern and North Central Airlines merged to form Republic Airlines. According to the OAG, in 1981 Republic was operating four flights a day into the airport including two Douglas DC-9-10 jet nonstops from Atlanta plus a third direct DC-9-10 flight from Atlanta via Columbus as well as one direct Convair 580 turboprop flight from Memphis