1943. The following units trained at Bruning AAF: 456th Bombardment Group - August 2-October 8, 1943 744th, 745th, 746th and 747th Bombardment Squadrons Deployed to Fifteenth Air Force in Italy, (B-24 Liberator) 449th Bombardment Group - September 12- December 3, 1943 716th, 717th, 718th and 719th Bombardment Squadrons Deployed to Fifteenth Air Force in Italy, (B-24 Liberator) 487th Bombardment Group - September 20-December 15, 1943 836th, 837th, 838th and 839th Bombardment Squadrons Deployed to Eighth Air Force in England, (B-24 Liberator) 507th Fighter Group- October 20-December 12, 1944 463rd, 464th, and 465th Fighter Squadrons Deployed to Twentieth Air Force in Okinawa, (P-47 Thunderbolt) 508th Fighter Group - November 15-December 18, 1944 466th, 467th, and 468th Fighter Squadrons Deployed to Hawaii as replacement training group, (P-47 Thunderbolt) 23d Fighter Squadron - November 1943 - March 1944 Component of 36th Fighter Group at Scribner Army Air Field, Nebraska Deployed to Ninth Air Force in England (P-47 Thunderbolt) 516th Fighter Squadron - 3 March - 1 April 1944 Component of 407th Fighter-Bomber Group Replacement Training Unit (A-24 Dauntless, A-36 Apache) 517th Fighter Squadron - 3 March - 1 April 1944 Component of 407th Fighter-Bomber Group Replacement Training Unit (A-24 Dauntless, A-36 Apache) Local historians record that 23 airmen died in training accidents at the base, and an additional 28 were killed in a single incident on August 4, 1944, when a C-47 Skytrain carrying a graduating class of fighter pilots ran into a thunderstorm and crashed near Naper, Nebraska, killing all on board. Bruning AAF was placed on reserve status effective 7 February 1945 and assigned to Air Technical Service Command. The 4167th Army Air Force Base Unit was assigned to the airfield with a mission to maintain the airfield in reserve status until such time as it may be needed as an active station. The base was declared surplus by the USAAF on November 21, 1945 and turned over to the State of Nebraska. In 1947, 174 buildings were dismantled at Bruning. On January 15, 1948, Nebraska Department of Aeronautics acquired a quitclaim deed for Bruning Army Airfield from the U. S. War Assets Administration. The Nebraska Department of Aeronautics eventually took over a total of six former Army airfields after the war, and continued to operate nearly all of them for many years as state operated civilian airports. The Bruning field was operated as a State airfield until August 1969, although