A variety of special operations aircraft are stationed at Cannon, including the AC-130J Ghostrider, MC-130J Commando II, MQ-9 Reaper, CV-22 Osprey and U-28 Draco.

After their aircraft were destroyed when attacked in the Philippines, the Airmen of the 27th Bomb Group was converted into the 1st Provisional Air Corps Regiment (Infantry).

They salvaged machine guns and cannons from crippled aircraft to fortify American fighting positions and vehicles with heavy weaponry.

Two battalions of maintenance, ordnance, intelligence, ground staff, and aircrew Airmen bravely held the left flank of the US Army’s II Corps throughout the defense of Bataan, even escaping encirclement in the final battles, earning them the moniker “The Steadfast Line.” [3] Cannon Air Force Base is named in honor of General John K. Cannon (1892–1955).

At Clovis, passengers heading east would then transfer and board an overnight train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to Waynoka, OK where they would connect to another TAT-operated Ford Trimotor aircraft the next morning and continue their journey to the Port Columbus Airport in Ohio (now the John Glenn Columbus International Airport) where they would transfer again for the final stage of the journey to New York City via the Pennsylvania Railroad.

In later years, both TWA and Western evolved into major airlines operating extensive domestic and international route systems.

In 1948 a new carrier, Pioneer Air Lines, began serving Clovis with the airport being one of several stops on a route between Albuquerque and Dallas Love Field.

The April 1, 1955 Continental system timetable listed three daily DC-3 flights serving the airport including a roundtrip Albuquerque - Santa Fe - Clovis - Lubbock - Abilene - Fort Worth - Dallas Love Field service as well as a one way westbound Houston Hobby Airport - College Station, TX - Temple, TX - Waco, TX - Dallas Love Field - Fort Worth - Abilene - Lubbock - Clovis - Santa Fe - Albuquerque flight.

[6][7] According to the September 27, 1959 Continental Airlines timetable, a Viscount propjet was being operated on a daily roundtrip routing of Albuquerque (ABQ) - Santa Fe (SAF) - Clovis (CVS) - Lubbock (LBB) - Abilene (ABI) - Fort Worth (via Greater Southwest International Airport) (GSW) - Dallas Love Field (DAL).

However, for a brief period during the late 1970s, Texas International Airlines introduced 85-seat Douglas DC-9-10 jet service to Clovis, which was operated via Cannon.

According to the March 15, 1978 Texas International system timetable, the airline was operating three departures every weekday from the airport with two nonstops to Albuquerque (ABQ) which offered connections via ABQ to TI DC-9 jet service on to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Houston (IAH) and Los Angeles (LAX) as well as a nonstop flight to Hobbs, NM with this service continuing on to Carlsbad, NM.

The 509th operated Clovis AAF as a detachment from its headquarters at Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico, using the airfield as a deployment facility for the group's B-29s.

However, with no funds to host an active Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomb wing, Clovis AFB was placed on reserve/standby status on 1 July 1948.

Clovis AFB remained on standby status until 1 April 1950 when jurisdiction was transferred from SAC to Air Training Command (ATC).

The first USAF unit to use Clovis AFB was the Air National Guard's 140th Fighter-Bomber Wing (140th FBW), which arrived in October 1951 after being activated due to the Korean War.

This action would entail expanding and realigning some aspects of both the 16th Special Operations Wing and AFSOC, also headquartered at Hurlburt Field.

Jurisdiction was formally transferred to AFSOC on 1 October 2007 and new airframes such as the CV-22 Osprey and AC-130H Spectre were assigned to the new wing at Cannon.

In 2023, the FW1 Ute Reservoir pipeline project started construction to provide potable water by 2030 for Cannon Air Force Base and the communities of Clovis, Portales, Elida, Texico.