In early May 1942, enough construction was completed to dedicate the new military base, named Lakeland Army Air Field.

It was moved from MacDill Field at the beginning of August 1942 and was sent to Lakeland for 2d phase combat training to alleviate congestion in the Tampa Bay airspace.

The unit was urgently needed in England for staging prior to the Operation Torch landings, engaging in combat during the North African Campaign beginning in December 1942.

The 322d remained at Lakeland until November 1942 before deploying also to England and assignment to the Eighth Air Force, attacking Nazi airfields and targets in Occupied Europe.

The 344th Bombardment Group arrived at Lakeland AAF in late December 1942 and was assigned by III Bomber Command to be an Operational Training Unit for the B-26 Marauder school.

In October 1943, the 407th Fighter-Bomber Group (Dive) was moved to Lakeland AAF from the III Fighter Command base at Drew Army Airfield, also located in Tampa approximately 8 miles northwest of MacDill Field.

The group remained at Lakeland for about a month before deploying to the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy in early February.

Air Commando units were formed to be part of the invasion force to operate from captured Japanese airfields behind the main battle lines in India.

In each case the pattern had been the same: spot open spaces from the air, send in glider-borne engineers and equipment to hack an airstrip from the brush, and within a matter of hours, fly in troops to harass the enemy and his lines of communication with P-51 Mustang fighter and B-25 medium bomber units.

The number of personnel were reduced, being reassigned to other bases, and in mid-April 1945, orders were received from Third Air Force that Lakeland Army Airfield would be closed on 30 April 1945 and placed in a standby status.

The facility, however, was vastly larger in scope with large numbers of support buildings and other improvements than the one leased to the War Department in 1940.

After the war ended, the Army Airfield was left mostly unused due to the size of the facility far exceeding the needs of the city as well as the costs involved of converting it to civil use.

A new airport passenger terminal complex was constructed in the early 2000s and is home to several plaques, monuments and other memorabilia commemorating the airfield's World War II history as a U.S. Army Air Forces installation.