Fairmont Army Air Field, about 2 miles south of Fairmont, was built from September 17, 1942, on 1,980 acres, with barracks for nearly 6,000 and a 350-bed hospital, the largest in Nebraska. Seven bomb groups trained there on B-24s, B-17s and B-29s, and in September 1944 Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets chose its 393rd Bomb Squadron for the 509th Composite Group, which later flew the atomic missions. Inactivated late in 1945, the field went to the state in 1946 and is now the Fairmont State Airfield; runways, hangars and ruins survive, and it was listed on the National Register as a historic district in 2003. Two History Nebraska markers stand on Road H.