Aviation Heritage

The history of Airfield Estates is closely tied to aviation and to a unique chapter of World War II training in the Yakima Valley.

With the onset of World War II, the Olympia Air Transport Corporation began searching for land in the Yakima Valley to establish a civilian flight school where weather conditions would allow more hours of flight training. At the time, irrigation water had not yet reached portions of H. Lloyd Miller’s farmland, so he agreed to lease a section of the property—an opportunity that would shape the history of our family farm.

Construction of the flight school began on December 21, 1941. The airbase included three dirt runways, each over a half mile long, along with a 70-foot water tower, multiple aircraft hangars, four barracks, a large mess hall, and several smaller support buildings. Within weeks, the site was operational and training flights were underway.

Initially, the facility operated as part of the Civilian Pilot Training Program, a government-sponsored effort to prepare pilots for military service. Students trained in open-cockpit biplanes, completing primary, secondary, and cross-country flight instruction.

By mid-1943, the program transitioned to the War Training Service Program, focusing on advanced secondary training. Pilots practiced aerobatics, evasive maneuvers, and other techniques essential for military aviation. According to government records, more than 500 Army Air Corps pilots trained at the airfield on our family’s property before the school closed in 1944.

Following the war, the buildings were declared surplus and auctioned. H. Lloyd Miller was the only bidder, purchasing the structures for $1. The hangars, barracks, and other buildings were repurposed as the headquarters of the family’s farming operation, which became known as Airport Ranch.

Over time, many of the original structures were lost to age and weather, but two of the original hangars still stand today, continuing to serve as workshop and storage facilities—a lasting reminder of the aviation history that helped shape Airfield Estates.

Today, that heritage lives on not only in our historic buildings, but in the name Airfield Estates itself, honoring the pilots who once trained on this land and the family that has farmed it for generations. From training pilots to growing vineyards, this land has always been a place of purpose, innovation, and forward vision.