Olathe Naval Air Station (New Century AirCenter)

Originally a small civilian airstrip, the military acquired the site and expanded it as a training base for pilots in World War II, Olathe Naval Air Station later served as the headquarters of the Naval Air Transport Service.

In 1941, Kansas City's small naval aviator training program at Kansas City, Kansas's Fairfax Airport expanded dramatically, and with the creation of a new bomber plant, there was little room to house aviators and training facilities. The military expanded the county airfield in Olathe, and in January 1942, the Navy purchased the airport and surrounding 640 acres for seventy-two thousand dollars, and construction started immediately on three runways, a hangar, barracks, a school, and a repair shop. Farmers leased land within a 13-mile radius for auxiliary fields. By July 1942, operations transfer from Fairfax to Olathe, still under construction. A hospital was completed in January, 1943 and a field house where the Olathe Naval Clippers played KU and other teams from the Big 6. Peak of 1000 pilots at the facility and 4550 pilots trained in the war. WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) also trained from 1943 onward.

Use continues after the war, Naval Air Reserve and the Marine Air Reserve training programs and has significant training mission in the Korean War. The site was decommissioned in July of 1970 and returns to civilian use. Known today as New Century AirCenter