Sheppard has been providing top-notch instruction in a diverse array of Air Force specialties for more than half a century.

Though the mission has changed several times, Sheppard has always been in the training business since it was officially opened as an active Army Air Corps base in October 1941.

Sheppard Field was first conceived Nov. 29, 1940, when Maj. Gen. Rush B. Lincoln, commandant of U.S. Army Air Corps Technical Schools, surveyed sites around the city of Wichita Falls for a proposed training school. J. S. Bridwell, a Wichita Falls cattleman, offered 300 acres just south of Kell Field to the government for one dollar. The Army Air Corps officially approved the school plans in February 1941. Thus Sheppard Field began as a World War II Army Air Corps training center when representatives of the War Department and the city of Wichita Falls entered into a lease agreement. The lease gave the government the right to build and operate a military installation adjacent to the Wichita Falls Municipal Airport, and granted the government the right to full use of the airport's land, runways and facilities.

Official dedication of the field was Oct. 17, 1941, following the arrival of the first military members on June 14. The field was named for the late Senator Morris E. Sheppard, former chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee. Facilities were completed sufficiently to allow the first class of 22 aviation mechanics to enter training that October; the class graduated Feb. 23, 1942.

During World War II, Sheppard conducted basic training and it also trained glider mechanics, technical training for B-25 and B-26 crew chiefs and B-29 engineers. The base also provided liaison aircraft training for ground officers and helicopter pilot training.

The field reached its peak strength of 46,340 people while serving as a separation center for troops being discharged following World War II from September through November 1945.

Sheppard Field was deactivated Aug. 31, 1946, and declared surplus to the War Department's needs; it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Corps of Engineers April 30, 1947.

Control and accountability for Sheppard Field was transferred to the Department of the Air Force Aug. 1, 1948. It was reactivated Aug. 15, 1948, to supplement Lackland AFB, Texas, as a basic training center and was renamed Sheppard.

Basic training was discontinued in June 1949, but was resumed from July 1950 to May 1952. The aircraft mechanics school was transferred to Sheppard from Keesler AFB, Miss., in April 1949 to make room for expansion of electronic training at that base. The school was renamed the Department of Aircraft Maintenance Training within the 3750th Technical School.