It was under the command of the 68th Flying Training Detachment, 29th Flying Training Wing. The airfield began training flying cadets under contract to Georgia Air Services, Inc. Flying training was performed with PT-17 Stearman biplanes as the primary trainer. It also had several Fairchild PT-19, Ryan PT-22 Recruits and PT-27 Kaydets assigned. The physical facilities of McKellar Field included administrative buildings and quarters for officers and enlisted men, encircling a central location. A consolidated mess hall, which accommodated 1,000 enlisted men and a limited number of' officers, was located nearby. Adjacent to the mess hall was a Post Exchange, a Service Club and a dance floor. The facility was inactivated on October 16, 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. It was declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on September 30, 1945. Eventually it was discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) and became a civil airport. After the war, the airport reverted to the control of the city and county, and was expanded over the years with new facilities to accommodate the needs of Jackson and Madison County. Nearly all of the wartime buildings erected at the airport were torn down or moved, although four of the wartime hangars remain in use at the airport. A few of the streets from McKellar Field remain visible in aerial photography but other than some isolated concrete remaining, the station area has been totally removed. A military presence remains at the airport, with the Tennessee Army National Guard's 1/230th Air Cavalry Squadron having an extensive support facility at the airport, equipped with UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. In the 1970s, the airport name was changed to McKellar–Sipes Regional Airport to honor Major Robert Ray "Buster" Sipes, a United States Air Force test pilot from Jackson, who was killed in 1969 when his RF-101 Voodoo jet fighter crashed after takeoff from RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, England. A plaque is located in the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul at Steeple Aston to honor his memory. Sipes is buried at the Shiloh National Military Park cemetery.