Bruning Army Air Field

The twelve landowners had ten days to vacate their farms in 1942. The war wound down at Bruning early: the base went to reserve status in February 1945, and in 1947 some 174 of its buildings were taken down. The state ran the field until August 1969, and today it is abandoned and closed to traffic, leased to local farmers and a cattle feedlot company. Pieces of it still stand. A large Sub Depot hangar survives, as do Hangar 52 in fairly good condition and Hangar 53 near ruin, with foundations, floors and one visible northwest-southeast runway.

What the plaque says

Bruning Army Air Field Bruning Army Air Field, located northeast of here, was one of eleven army airfields in Nebraska during World War II. Construction began in September 1942 on 1,480 acres of farmland, for which the government paid twelve landowners $73,400. The field was activated on March 18, 1943. It eventually included 1,720 acres, 234 buildings, and three 6,800- foot runways. By December 1943 nearly 500 civilians and 3,077 military personnel worked there. Bruning initially provided training for the 456th, 449th, and 487th Heavy Bombardment Groups, flying B-24 Liberators. The 449th moved directly from Bruning to Italy, where it flew 245 group missions, losing 101 planes, 388 men killed in action, and 363 men as prisoners of war. In 1944 the field was home to P-47 pilots from the 23rd Fighter Squadron, later sent to Europe, and the 507th and 508th Fighter Groups, which flew in the Pacific. The field was declared surplus by the War Department on November 21, 1945, and transferred to the state of Nebraska in 1947. Bruning was maintained as a state airfield until 1969, The site has reverted to agricultural uses. Thayer County Historical Society Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rock Creek Station State Historical Park — 25 mi
  A stage and Pony Express station on the trail southeast of Fairbury where James Hickok killed David McCanles in July 1861, with the court papers that cleared him, and deep wagon ruts.

More markers nearby

• The Ohiowa Auditorium — 6.4 mi
• The Forty-Niner Trail — 7.4 mi
• Sergeant Leodegar Schnyder — 9.2 mi
• Thayer County — 13 mi