The first USAAF unit to use Podington was the 28th Troop Carrier Squadron (28th TCS)[2] in June 1942, arriving from Westover Army Air Field, Massachusetts.

The 15th Bombardment Squadron (15th BS),[2] arrived on 15 September 1942 from RAF Molesworth, flying the British Boston III light bomber.

Due to the deteriorating situation in the Philippines after the Japanese attack, they were diverted to Australia where they reformed into a combat unit and fought in the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea campaigns.

In October, the 15th BS was transferred to Twelfth Air Force for support of Allied landings in North Africa, being assigned to Ste-Barbe-du-Tlelat Airfield, Algeria on 26 December 1942, its crews were absorbed by the 47th Bombardment Group (Light), and the 15th was inactivated.

From 15 August through to 2 September 1942, Podington was briefly used by the 301st Bombardment Group, based at RAF Chelveston as a satellite airfield for its Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers.

As a result, the runways at Podington were lengthened to accommodate the heavy four-engined bombers of the Eighth Air Force (8th AF).

Although handicapped by weather conditions, enemy fire, and insufficient fighter protection, the 92nd bombed aircraft factories in central Germany on 11 January 1944, and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for the mission.

In addition to strategic missions, the 92nd performed some interdictory and support operations, assisting the Normandy invasion in June 1944 by hitting gun emplacements, junctions, and marshalling yards in the beachhead area, supporting ground forces at Saint-Lô during the breakthrough in July 1944, bombing gun positions and bridges to aid the airborne assault on the Netherlands in September 1944, participating in the Battle of the Bulge, from December 1944 to January 1945, by attacking bridges and marshalling yards in and near the battle area and bombing airfields near the landing zone to cover the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945.

92d Bombardment Group Flight Officer John C. Morgan, co-pilot, received the Medal of Honor for action aboard a B-17 during a mission over Europe on 26 July 1943.

In 1961, a public inquiry was made by a Member of Parliament (MP) with regards to the need by the MoD to maintain millions of Second World War sandbags, and the outcome of the investigation was the sale of Podington to private interests later that year.

On 26 May 2013, a ceremony and dedication service took place to officially unveil an inscribed granite memorial stone within Santa Pod Raceway, on the site of the former Podington Airfield.

[1] Organised by the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust (ABCT), the service included the chief executive of Santa Pod Raceway, chief of ABCT, an air officer of the Royal Air Force, and standard bearers of the Royal British Legion, and culminated with a flypast consisting of a Lancaster bomber aircraft flanked by Hurricane and Spitfire fighters from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF).