Coffeyville Army Airfield was a World War II training base of the United States Army Air Forces Central Flying Training Command (CFTC). It was later used by Third Air Force. Today, it is the city-owned Coffeyville Municipal Airport, Kansas.HistoryEarly in 1942, the War Department decided to build a basic training field outside the town of Coffeyville, Kansas, one of eleven Army Air Forces bases the state would have before the end of World War II.The base was eagerly sought after by the town's community leaders. Many businessmen donated time and part of their expenses to get the base approved. Their efforts started in late 1941, with several visits by key city officials in Washington to talk with different agencies of the War Department. By Thanksgiving 1941, the Chamber of Commerce and the Airport Committee, received a commitment from the War Department for a site engineer to consider Coffeyville.The decision was made to build the base on May 8, 1942. The site was located seven miles north-east of Coffeyville, on a 1,456-acre tract of land which had been purchased by the United States government. Construction, which was accomplished by contract under the supervision of the U. S. District Engineers, Tulsa, Oklahoma, commenced on 1 June 1942. It had really started before when the county began to improve the road network around the new base to handle the increased truck traffic hauling construction material to the site. The weather didn't cooperate, as the latter part of 1942 was very wet, slowing construction; however, most of the construction was accomplished over the next eight months.
