Bradley Field World War II activities

On January 23, 1941, Governor Robert A. Hurley sent a proposal to the Connecticut General Assembly requesting the state buy land to lease to the United States Army for an air base. The U.S. Army had earlier indicated to state officials that it wished to have a base for fighter planes in or near Connecticut as part of the nation's defensive grid though the attack on Pearl Harbor had not yet occurred. In response, the state acquired 1,700 acres most of which was then a tobacco plantation. The tract was purchased and then leased to the federal government for $1.00 a year for twenty-five years. The field, which at the time was named the Windsor Locks Army Air Base, became ready for airmen and troops early in the summer of 1941.

The air base was later officially renamed "Army Air Base, Bradley Field, Connecticut," on January 20, 1942, but more familiarly called Bradley Field in honor of Army Air Corps Second Lieutenant Eugene M. Bradley. Lt. Bradley's P-40 fighter plane crashed after he went into a routine dive during training and failed to come out on August 21, 1941. Bradley hailed from Pushmataha County (according to multiple sources either Antlers or Dela) in Oklahoma, and arrived at the air base three days before his fatal accident. He was the first of many pilots to die in training accidents at the field.