A close examination of imagery of the runways still showing markings from 1942 on the surface laid down by United States Navy personnel in early 1942 delineating distances used for simulating a World War II aircraft carrier flight deck.

This provided the B-25 Mitchell pilots training in short-distance takeoffs which was needed in order to conduct the raid on Japan.

A metal launching rail for the Republic-Ford JB-2, a United States copy of the German V-1 flying bomb, was erected on the southeast side of the airfield (30°39′46″N 086°20′41″W / 30.66278°N 86.34472°W / 30.66278; -86.34472) approximately 1944.

The line, which ceased operation in the late 1970s, had already lifted the track to Wagner before this military rail connection was abandoned.

In 1980, flight testing of modified YMC-130 Hercules transports for Operation Credible Sport took place at Wagner Field.

As a result, the aircraft's forward flight vector was reduced to near zero, dropping it to the north-south runway and tearing off the starboard wing between the third and fourth engines.

That being said, a 2012 inspection of the north-south runway revealed recent touch-down and turn-around tread marks on the south end of the same runway upon which the Credible Sport tests took place, with a landing gear track that suggests that 1st SOW special operations C-130 Hercules variants (MC-130, etc.)

For the 2008 gathering of Doolittle mission survivors, six crew were present for recognition in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, culminating in a reenactment of the training sessions by three civilian-owned B-25 Mitchells at Duke Field, Auxiliary Field 3, on 31 May, which had also hosted mission training.

Navy personnel from NAS Pensacola, as flight deck "shirt" crew, represented that service's contribution to the Tokyo mission.