At a joint meeting on 6 February 1941 the two city commissions approved construction of an airport comprising some 240 acres with a 100 x 100-foot hangar.

Housing was built to accommodate a total of 4,404 officers and men, while the hospital was designed for a normal bed capacity of 141.

He was the first Army Air Force pilot from Cowley County to be killed in World War II.

During the ceremony which included a military and aerial review, The Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart were presented to Captain Strother's three-year-old son, Colbert.

With the graduation of Class 44-G on 23 May, Strother Field had accomplished its mission as a basic pilot school of the Central Flying Training Command.

On 1 June 1944 the basic flying training function at Strother ceased, and the field was taken over by the II Fighter Command, Second Air Force.

Ground personnel were assigned to the 269th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Fighter Pilot Training Station).

With the end of the war in sight, official orders were received on 27 July 1945 providing for the inactivation of the base by 15 August.

By 15 August orders had been complied with in full, save for such minor modifications as were authorized by higher headquarters to meet existing needs.

It served as a satellite for only a few months, for Pratt itself was inactivated in December 1945, and Strother was placed in an unmanned, inactive, standby status.

But between November 1953 and September 1954 this activity was removed, and up to March 1958 Strother Field was not used in any Air Force capacity.

A transfer agreement was drawn up between representatives of Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area, the District Engineer, Seventh Service Command at Omaha, Nebraska who assumed jurisdiction over the base, pending disposition.

About half of the parking apron remains, some of it being used by the Strother Field Airport, the remainder in an abandoned and deteriorated state; much of it having vegetation growing in the concrete expansion joints.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency