Ellyson Auxiliary Air Station was opened as a primary training base and off-site landing field for NAS Pensacola in October of 1941, just prior to the United State's involvement in World War II.

The installation was named in honor of the Navy's first aviator, Commander Theodore G. Ellyson. The landing field had little military purpose after the war, and a section was turned over to the community in 1947 for leisure activities. The Brooklyn Dodgers held a baseball training camp on Ellyson during this period.

The air field was reactivated when the Korean conflict began in 1950. The new home to Helicopter Training Squadron 8 (HT-8), Ellyson Field became the only place in the country where Marine, Navy, and Coast Guard helicopter pilots were trained. Six "Whirlybird" pilots set an unofficial world endurance flight record at Ellyson in 1961. Hovering in the air for a consecutive 72 hours and 2 minutes. Pilots continued to train at Ellyson until the mid-1970's.

The air field returned to civilian hands in the early-1980s, when the city redeveloped the property as an industrial park. Now, Ellyson Industrial Park is almost packed to capacity, housing large equipment companies, laboratories, distributors, call centers, Buffalo Rock Pepsi, the Escambia County Utility Authority, and the Florida National Guard Armory.

Researched and written by University of West Florida Public History student Travis Patterson