Fighter Group based at Casper AAF, Wyoming trained with Bell P-39 Airacobra aircraft at Ainsworth from October to November 1943. The 53d Fighter Squadron of the 37th Fighter Group based at Scribner AAF, Nebraska trained with Republic P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft at Ainsworth between November 1943 to March 1944. Aircraft camouflage experiments were conducted at the field. When the facility was fully manned, 544 enlisted men and 112 officers lived on the base. Married personnel lived in Long Pine, Ainsworth and Johnstown. The base closed on 31 December 1945. Following the withdrawal of the military personnel, the base closed except for civilians who manned the Fire Department and the Weather Squadron. In 1946 the United States Army Corps of Engineers issued a Revokable License to the City of Ainsworth for commercial aircraft operations at the Airfield. Ainsworth AAF was declared surplus property in 1948, and the City of Ainsworth received title to the Airfield for use as a municipal airport. By late 1948 Ainsworth Municipal Airport was used for charter flights, aircraft rental, flight lessons and a maintenance shop. For a year or two starting in 1959 Ainsworth had scheduled airline flights—Frontier DC-3s. In the mid-1980s the National Scientific Balloon Facility rented space at Ainsworth for periodic balloon missions. By the late 1980s, the Ainsworth Airport discontinued these services due to the depressed local economy. Currently the airport is overseen by the Airport Authority, which provides basic services, with an airport manager who oversees airport activities such as fuel sales, hangar rental, tie-downs, weather station operation, aircraft communications arid flight plan design. About of farm land and pasture is rented out to area farmers. Today a handful of buildings remains from the World War II–era. One aircraft hangar is still in use, a supply warehouse, the bombardier training building and the bombsight building. Taxiways, hardstands, aprons, runways and roads exist in various states of repair. Facilities The airport covers at an elevation of . It has two asphalt runways: 17/35 is and 13/31 is . It has one helipad, H1, . In the year ending June 27, 2011 the airport had 4,000 aircraft operations, average 10 per day: 99% general aviation and 1% military. Ten aircraft were then based at this airport: eight single-engine, one jet, and one glider. See also List of airports in Nebraska Nebraska World War II army airfields References External links Airport page from the Nebraska Department