The Navy, faced with providing aviators and support personnel for a two-front war, began a massive campaign of rapid expansion.

[4] The first group of Naval Aviation Cadets arrived at the base on March 10, 1943, and flight training officially began four days later.

The base avenues were named for U.S. Navy aircraft carriers that served early in World War II: Enterprise, Hornet, Langley, Lexington, Wasp and Yorktown.

Streets were named for U.S. Navy Admirals Dewey, Farragut, Moffett, and Sims along with Marine Corps General Smedley Butler and American Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones.

[6] One thing that set NAS Ottumwa apart from most other temporary Naval air training facilities around the nation was the quality of materiels used in construction.

[9] Several other notables also served at NAS Ottumwa, including Scott Carpenter, one of the seven Project Mercury astronauts and the second American to orbit the Earth.

[10] College Football Hall of Famer Bob Steuber, and Jesse L. Brown, the U.S. Navy's first African-American pilot.

[14] Ozark Air Lines ended service to Ottumwa in 1979, replaced by Mississippi Valley Airlines until 1983.

In 1985, Ottumwa Industrial Airport was served by Great Lakes Aviation, that service ending in 2001.

Most of the work centered on repaving and extending runway 4/22 with an asphalt surface, as well as adding a new parallel taxiway and upgrading lighting.

In the year ending June 23, 2015, the airport had 16,450 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 45 per day.