In 1950 the U.S. Government exercised its reversal clause for the facility and again took control. The Department of Defense concurrently called for bids from civilian contractors to man and operate a primary pilot training school for U.S. Air Force student pilots. Renamed Bartow Air Base, the installation was a USAF primary flight training facility for the Air Training Command (ATC) from 1951 to 1960. USAF operations officially ended in 1961 and the facility was transferred to the city again by the GSA. Forty years after the deactivation of Bartow AB, a retired USAF T-37 was loaned to the city and the airport by the National Museum of the United States Air Force and placed on a permanent static display pylon as a memorial to the former U.S. Army Air Forces and U.S. Air Force presence at Bartow. The T-37 is near the former air base main gate, now the airport entrance, and The Museum Room in the airport's main terminal commemorates the airport's military heritage.