Kearney Army Airfield, located near the city of Kearney, Nebraska, was in operation from 1942 through 1949, after which it was decommissioned and turned over for civilian use as Kearney Regional Airport. 

Construction on the Army Air Force base began in September 1942 and by December of the same year, the airfield was ready for occupancy. Major V. B. Trevellyan was assigned as the first commanding officer of Kearney Army Air Base, arriving on November 30, 1942. Training units began arriving in Kearney January 30, 1943. It became a training field with the arrival of the 100th Bombardment Group. The 100th became the parent group responsible for producing cadres for new Army Air groups. The ground crews were stationed at Kearney while the air crews were divided among various bases where they served as instructors. Then, having organized its offspring units, the 100th reunited at Kearney in mid-April and prepared for overseas movement. It departed Kearney in May and joined the Eighth Air Force in Europe.

One crew after another arrived at and departed from the base and by April 1944 the base was capable of handling 388 B-17 crews monthly. Of the six hangars built at the Kearney field, four were capable of holding either B-17 or B-29 aircraft. By August 1945, with the end of the war in sight, Kearney AAF slowed operations. Yet unlike other Army Air Fields in Nebraska, Kearney remained open.  As the Cold War began, Kearney Army Airfield (soon to be Kearney Air Force Base) stood at a threshold of strategic bombing history. During 1949, the 27th Fighter Wing began flying long-range "profile" training missions nationwide.

 In the face of a declining military budget, Strategic Air Command decided to move the 27th Fighter Wing to Bergstrom AFB, Texas and deactivate Kearney Air Force Base.  By 1950, the airport was in civilian hands.