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On 25 March 1950, Sewart Air Force Base was officially dedicated in honor of this hero who died in a bombing mission over the Solomon Islands in November 1942. In the aftermath of World War II, the US military renamed several military establishments in honor of fallen heroes, and the Department of Defense chose to name the Smyrna base after native Tennessean Allan J. Smyrna AFB flourished in the late 1940s and 1950s. These units flew the CH-21 Shawnee helicopter. 24th Helicopter: 9 July 1956 – 25 September 1956.

The 314th also hosted several helicopter squadrons:

18th Troop Carrier: 1 July 1963 – 1 April 1965.

62d Troop Carrier: 8 October 1957 – 1 December 1965.

61st Troop Carrier: 8 October 1957 – 1 December 1965.

50th Troop Carrier: 8 October 1957 – 26 December 1965.

However, the installation's inactivity was short-lived and the newly created United States Air Force re-activated the facility as Smyrna Air Force Base in 1948. At the end of hostilities, demobilization and defense reductions followed, resulting in the base being deactivated and placed in caretaker status in 1947. Throughout the war, numerous military personnel were stationed at Smyrna. On 8 January 1943, the War Department constituted and activated the 76th Flying Training Wing (Specialized 4-Engine) at Smyrna and assigned it to the AAF Eastern Flying Training Command. Graduates were commissioned as Flight Officers (Warrant Officers), and those who graduated at the top of their class were commissioned as Second Lieutenants. Pilots graduating this phase were sent on to group combat training with the Second Air Force. In this phase, cadets flew B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers.

In January 1942, Smyrna Army Airfield was assigned to the AAF Southeast Training Center with the Army Air Force Pilot School (Specialized 4-Engine) activated (phase 3 pilot training). Six thousand workers erected 200 buildings and an airfield to accommodate the training needs of the Army Air Force. A tract of land consisting of 3,325 acres (1,346 ha) located off US Route 70 in Rutherford County, Tennessee near Smyrna, Tennessee, was selected and acquired by the United States Army Air Forces for use as an Army-Air Force Training Command Base. The War Department ordered the construction of a Bombardment Air Base near Nashville on 22 December 1941, shortly after the US had entered World War II. 1.4 64th Troop Carrier/Tactical Airlift Wing.