Lt. Arnold Rich recognized the area's potential as an air base site. Lt. Rich suggested James Plew furnish land for a landing field. Plew's interest was based on his keen aviation ideas and desire for a regular Army payroll for the area. Following its activation as a bus-post of Maxwell Field in 1937, it was said malcontents assigned to duty at Valparaiso were given the choice of "KP, MP, or VAL-P."

The field was designed as an independent post in 1940, and as the Air Corps' proving ground in 1941. The raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities by Hurlburt Field's Doolittle Raiders in 1942 served to boost American morale. In 1944, U.S. Congressional Representative Robert F. Sikes notified Eglin that Congress had allocated funding for a climatic hangar, a project Sikes viewed as insuring its permanency. Eglin was also the site of the movie, "12 O'Clock High" starring Gregory Peck.