The airport opened as Muscle Shoals Auxiliary Field in February 1940, but in 1942 it was taken over by the United States Army Air Forces, as a World War II pilot training military airfield. It was assigned to the AAF Flying Training Command, Southeast Training Center (later Eastern Flying Training Command) as a basic (stage 2) pilot training airfield. Pilot training at the airfield ended on or about May 30, 1944, with the drawdown of AAFTC’s pilot training program. The airfield was returned to civil control at the end of the war.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Alabama_Regional_Airport#:~:text=The%20airport%20opened%20as%20Muscle,II%20pilot%20training%20military%20airfield.