September 1935, The Army took over NAS Moffett Field , and immediately became disenchanted with it (mainly due to the high cost of Hangar One's maintenance).

President Roosevelt would not allow the closure of the facility, and the Army assigned Moffett to its Western Flying Training Command as headquarters for pilot and aircrew flight training west of the Rocky Mountains. The base became the home for the United States Army Air Forces 82nd Army Observation squadron and the 9th Air Base Material squadron.

Among the pilots earning his wings at the base was 2nd Lt. Jimmy Stewart, who later became a well-known actor.

As an aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy wanted to use the airship hangars at Moffett for blimp operations along with Pacific Coast. However, the Army, still stinging about having to transfer Rockwell Field to the Navy, resisted strongly. Again the inter-service rivalry was overruled by the War Department, citing the Navy's need for coastal defense a priority and ordered the Army to move its training headquarters to Hamilton Field in Marin County, north of San Francisco.

On April 16, 1942, control of the facility was returned to the Navy and it was recommissioned as NAS Sunnyvale. Four days later it was again renamed Naval Air Station Moffett Field.