Prior to U.S. involvement in World War II, the Naval Expansion Act of 1940 funded the growth of a two-ocean navy and authorized the expansion of new naval air stations. City of Kingsville officials saw the potential benefits of the creation of a military installation near the city and promoted the area's abundant air space, year-round flying weather, available acreage and flat terrain. Their efforts proved successful when the U.S. Navy commissioned U.S. Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS), Kingsville, Texas on July 4, 1942. The original layout of the Advanced Pilot Training School has a north field and south field with two independent sets of runways. As part of the Intermediate Training Complex out of Naval Air Station Corpus Christ, NAAS Kingsville accepted male cadetys for the intial step in carrier pilot training. Following classroom sessions and flight simulator instruction cadets took to the air practicing touch-and-go landings on small area landing strips, built to simulate the length of aircraft carrier decks. Cadets also flew "bombing" runs over area target sites and on targets at Padre Island. During the war, a unit of Navy W.A.V.E.S. (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) served here in various professions. NAAS Kingsville played a significant role in training naval aviators for combat in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters of operation. In addition, the selection of Kingsville has a positive economic impact on the development of both the city and Kleberg County. Following the war, the U.S. began reducing its military inventory and NAAS Kingsville was officially decommissioned on April 1, 1951, as a jet transitional training facility. In August 1968, the Navy upgraded Naval Auxiliary Air Station Kingsville to Naval Air Station Kingsville. Texas in World War II - 2008