Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport began with a single building in 1929, and now has a complex of structures. During World War II, it provided the Army almost 1,600 acres of space to train glider pilots for battles that included the D-Day invasion of Normandy.
South Plains Army Airfield, which occupied the Lubbock airport area to train glider pilots during world War II, trained more pilots than any other glider base in the nation.