It was closed on 30 September 1945, prior to the establishment of the United States Air Force as an independent service two years later in 1947.

The new base would create thousands of jobs, increase property values, and bring a business boom to the local economy.

The airfield was a large and expansive facility, and originally was constructed using the "eight star" layout parking ramp, capable of hundreds of aircraft.

In addition, two crash boat bases; one at Marco Island and the other on the Caloosahatchee River near the Gulf of Mexico were construed.

The ground support station was also very expansive, consisting of about seven hundred buildings based on standardized plans and architectural drawings, with the buildings designed to be the "cheapest, temporary character with structural stability only sufficient to meet the needs of the service which the structure is intended to fulfill during the period of its contemplated war use."

Buckingham Field was designed to be nearly self-sufficient, with not only hangars, but barracks, warehouses, hospitals, dental clinics, dining halls, and maintenance shops were needed.

The Jam Handy used motion picture technology to project actual combat situations on a movie screen with sound effects that included engine noise.

Students learned quickly how to operate life support and oxygen equipment, with instructors assisting them to solve any problems.

Often students became ill with the bends and others developed ear problems as the pressure in the room varied to simulate flying conditions.

The A-20 was found not to be ideal, as the gunners would largely face much more maneuverable single-engined fighter aircraft, and the Bell P-63 Kingcobra replaced it.

The P-63 met the fighter plane criteria and was also available in quantity, as it was being used for lend-lease exports and was not used as a combat aircraft by the Air Force.

The aerial target version of the aircraft was designated as the "RP-63 Pinball" and was painted a bright orange, re-fitted with 1" thick glass and carried more than a ton of armor covering the parts exposed to gunfire of the specialized bullets.

B-24s were modified with sealed bomb bays and could be used for both waist and turret training, carrying large amounts of ammunition and both the .30 and .50 caliber machine guns.

The development of the B-29 Superfortress in 1943 with its remote-controlled defensive armament system caused a major problem for Training Command as no comparable trainers existed at Buckingham or the other Flexible Gunnery Schools.

Throughout 1944, B-29 gunners received practically the same training as those for other aircraft, but at the end of the year a decision was made to strip turrets off B-29s on the production line and install them in some existing B-24s to make them more like B-29s.

As the war began drawing to an end in Europe, and later in the summer of 1945 in the Pacific, the number of trainees and the level of activity at the base was reduced rapidly.

With the Japanese surrender and the end of World War II most of the temporary training bases such as Buckingham Field were put on inactive status and eventually closed.

Also, advancements in technology with the B-29, and the gun-laying radar that was under development with the tail cannons of the then-prototype B-36 Peacemaker made flexible gunnery training largely obsolete.

After the war, the barracks at Buckingham were briefly used as the Edison College, but this closed in 1948, and most of the buildings of the original base were subsequently removed over time.

In the 1950s, the abandoned Buckingham AAF was acquired by a marketing tycoon Lee Ratner[citation needed], who was purchasing most of the undeveloped land east of Fort Myers.

Working closely with his friend and marketing protégé Gerald Gould, Ratner launched one of the largest land schemes in Florida history, Lehigh Acres.

After the war, thousands of surviving veterans of combat that trained at Buckingham AAF returned to Southwest Florida later in life to live.

Many went on to become local leaders, and their memories of training at Fort Myers during the war brought a unique aspect to the community.

Today, the large aircraft parking ramp of Buckingham Army Air Field remains the most visible remnant of the World War II training base.