(100 MILES SE OF AMARILLO)
The bombardier school at Childress was formally dedicated on 14 February 1943. The first class to be trained there, 43-7, was named "The Valentine of Steel" class, and then began their schooling on 20 February 1943. 130 finished their training and received bombardier wings on 13 May 1943. A total of 34 classes graduated at Childress with the last class, 45-335, receiving their wings on 5 August 1945. Two more classes, 435 and 535, were diverted to Midland where they completed their training with Midland class 545 on 14 November 1945. Initial cadre of instructors and items of equipment to begin training at Childress were provided by the school at Midland, Texas. In 1993 the site of Childress Bombardier School during WW II was operating as a prison.

CHILDRESS ARMY AIR FIELD. Childress Army Air Field, a World War II bombardier-training school under the Central Flying Training Command, occupied an area of 2,474 acres 2½ miles west of the Childress city limit. Construction of the field was announced on May 2, 1942, and began immediately thereafter. An activation ceremony was held in October, and Col. John W. White assumed command on November 24. The first class of cadets began training in February 1943 and graduated in May. Members of this class were dubbed the "Valentine of Steel" class, in reference to a dummy bomb that Mrs. White decorated as a Valentine to Hitler. Subsequent classes arrived at three-week intervals through the rest of the war and participated in an initial training program of eighteen weeks, later increased to twenty-four. Those who completed the work were designated flight officers or commissioned as second lieutenants. The base produced the first classes qualified in both precision bombing and dead-reckoning navigation.

In 3½ years Childress graduated thirty-five classes of bombardier-navigators; its 4,791 graduates made a tenth of the total World War II air force bombardier production. The first "All-American Precision Bombing Olympics" was held at Childress in May 1943 with seven air fields participating. Such meets were held there and at other training bases at three-week intervals thereafter until April 1944. A special practice feature was skip-bombing on Lake Childress. A redeployment program for veteran bombardiers was instituted at the field to give retraining in line with development of bombing techniques.

Units that served at Childress:

• 79th Bombardier Training Group Hq and Hq Sq
• 80th Bombardier Training Group Hq and Hq Sq
• 81st Bombardier Training Group
• 488th Bombardier Training Squadron
• 862nd Bombardier Training Squadron
• 1107th Bombardier Training Squadron
• 1108th Bombardier Training Squadron
• 457th Base Hq and Air Base Squadron
• 1097th Guard Squadron
• 331st Aviation Squadron (Colored)
• 325th AAF Band
• 361st Sub Depot Det
• 3rd Army Airways Communications Squadron Det
• 3rd Weather Squadron Finance Detachment (AAFGCTC)
• Medical Detachment, Station Hospital (AAFGCTC)
• Veterinary Detachment (AAFGCTC) Det
• 2052nd Ordnance Service Company (Aviation) Det
• 908th Quartermaster Service Company (Aviation) Det
• 857th Signal Service Company (Aviation)

The War Department also established a prisoner of war camp at the base. Childress was renamed the 2,512th Army Air Forces Base Unit on July 1, 1944. After the field was closed on December 21, 1945, it was given to the city and transformed into a municipal airport.