Salinas was used as an auxiliary airfield by the 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group (NFOTG) at Hammer Field, and moved a combination of modified Douglas A-20 Havocs for night fighter operations, designated P-70, and brand-new prototype YP-61 Black Widow purpose-built night fighters.
The 548th Night Fighter Squadron was formed at Salinas in April 1944. Like all of the Night Fighter squadrons being trained by IV Fighter Command, it moved among several bases in the San Joaquin Valley. Flights of P-61s from the 426th, 427th, 547th, 549th and 550th Night Fighter Squadrons moved in and out of Salinas AAF during 1944 as part of their training prior to being deployed to combat units, primarily in the Pacific and CBI theaters.
In December 1944 the 481st NFOTG was inactivated as part of an AAF reorganization. It was essentially re-designated as the 451st Army Air Forces Base Unit, and instead of training squadrons, it became a Replacement Pilot Training (RTU) organization which sent pilots overseas to established Night Fighter Squadrons. The 451st was made up of a number of lettered squadrons, which were expressed as the 451st AAFBU (A Squadron), and so on. These replacement training squadrons operated at the same airfields as was used by the 481st NFOG in the San Joaquin Valley. The 451st was under the operational control of the IV Fighter Command 319th Wing, headquartered at Hammer Field.
The 451st AAFBU concluded its training of replacement pilots in May 1945 and operations at the airfield were phased down to a standby status. With the end of the war, the base was declared excess to requirements and returned to civil control.[3]