The airfield's origins begin in 1940 when Sebring officials and citizens contacted their Florida congressional delegation to see about getting an Army base in the area.

On June 12, 1941, Congressman J. Hardin Peterson advised that an area of 9,200 acres (3,700 ha) of woodland had been approved for a basic flying school.

On July 20, 1941 construction began with Cleary Brothers of West Palm Beach as the General Contractor and Colonel A. H. Bond of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in charge.

The first soldiers arrived on September 5, 1941 and initially occupied tents on the shore of Lake Jackson on the edge of Sebring until they moved onto the base in December when the first barracks were completed.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the base's status was upgraded to full operational capability and placed under the command of Colonel Carl B. McDaniel.

March 1942 saw the beginning of the program which would train and coordinate combat crews; Pilot, Copilot, Navigator, Bombardier, Aerial Engineer, Radio Operator, and Gunners.

That program continued until the latter part of 1942, during which hundreds of combat crews were trained and dispatched to the European and North African Theatres of Operations, where they distinguished themselves in raids on enemy shipping, airfields and other ground installations.

With the Japanese surrender in August of that year, training programs ended and flight operations at Hendricks began to wind down.

Air traffic consisted of transient aircraft as de-mobilization was the order of the day, with most personnel being returned to civilian life.

The base was closed on 31 December 1945 and declared as surplus in 1946, being was turned over to the War Assets Administration (WAA) for disposal.