The airport was opened as a public airfield in April 1940. In August 1942, the facility was requisitioned by the
United States Army Air Forces as a
World War II military airfield, and was named
Cross City Army Airfield. The airfield was assigned as a training base to the
Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics (AAFSAT),
50th Fighter Group, headquartered at
Orlando Army Air Base, Florida. After the war, the airfield was returned to civil control. However, in the 1950s, the
United States Air Force re-established a radar facility on the airport under the operational control of the
891st Radar Squadron of the
Air Defense Command (ADC), later renamed the
Aerospace Defense Command. This facility remained at
Cross City Air Force Station and was part of the ADC's
20th Air Division from 1959 to 1969 when the facility was closed and transferred back to civilian control. In 1972, the
Florida Department of Corrections commenced converting the former
Cross City Air Force Station to a prison for adult male offenders known as the
Cross City Correctional Institution. == Facilities and aircraft ==