Three years and nearly $3 million later, Butts Field was a modern airfield. Appropriations for modern improvements were made in the fall of 1963. Eventually a T-shaped pre-fab hangar was constructed but by the time it was completed, it was already obsolete. There was one building on Mesa Air Strip, but it was dilapidated. Two years later, air operations were again relocated, this time to a mesa strip adjacent to today's Butts Army Airfield.
When high winds came up, trucks had to be parked beside the aircraft to protect them.
Winds of 60 knots or better were common, making the approach over the hospital complex extremely tricky. In 1954, air operations were moved to an area now in NCO housing. As a result of the uncertain conditions at the Carson strip, the first Army aircraft operated by post personnel were based in a single hangar at Peterson Field. However, aircraft maintenance had to be done in the open and the wind still made landing and taking off hazardous. Appropriations in the fall of that year allowed for the bulldozing of a new dirt strip and construction of a small wooden operations shack. Dust often decreased the visibility to zero. A bumpy dirt strip on the edge of the post was the only facility available. In early 1949, landing an aircraft at Camp Carson was extremely hazardous. The Butts Army Air Field (AAF) is an active runway and hangar facility used primarily by Army rotary-wing aircraft.