Bloomfield, Missouri - Pastor Mike Williams is presenting "Dexter's First Air-Force Base" at the Stars & Stripes Museum, Monday, May 22nd at 6:30 p.m.

Many long-time local residents are familiar with the Dexter Airport's creation as a satellite field for the Malden Air Base during WWII and the Korean War. This is not the only time that Stoddard County played a role in training pilots for the US military. A quite different, and much earlier, military airfield was once found in Dexter.

During the First World War a rented hay field on the west side of town hosted pilots from across the country.

Despite the occasional pig grazing on the runway, the community developed a reputation for hospitality among the cadets of Memphis' Park Field training base.

Dexter even helped get three young lieutenants into the record books. Following a war bond drive performance in Bloomfield the night before, three pilots and their mechanic set off on what became the longest flight recorded up to that point in history.