In time, the Second Air Force provided all B-29 Superfortress transition training for the Army Air Forces. Roswell Army Flying School was home to Beechcraft AT-11 twin engine trainers and Cessna AT-17 twin engine trainers, together with Vultee BT-13 and BT-15 training aircraft. Enlisted men of Base Photo drawing cameras to go up in a Beechraft AT-11 on bomb-spotting missions at Roswell Army Flying School, Roswell, N.M. Roswell Army Airfield was complemented by no less than nine auxiliary landing fields to accommodate overflow and tough and go traffic, and the airfield was assigned to the United States Army Air Corps Training Command on September 20, 1941. The facility had no less than 4,600 acres along with seven concrete runways. Owing to its excellent flying weather, the purpose of the facility was to provide military flight training and also to serve as a bombardier school.
Initially known as Roswell Army Airfield, the property upon which the base was developed was acquired in 1941 from rancher David Chesser.