Camp Parks sat unused until the United States Air Force established it as a basic training center in 1951 during the Korean War, and renamed the facility Parks Air Force Base. The Air Force almost completely rebuilt the base. Base personnel were initially housed in temporary facilities and ate from a field mess. The first group of airmen arrived at Camp Parks in the summer of 1951, and mass training began in March 1952 as the 3275th Air Indoctrination Wing. In 1953, Air Base Defense classes started as the Air Force transitioned the base defense mission from the Army.  The Air Force first terminated basic training and then reinstated it that year, all in response to Defense Department budget problems. In 1956, base operations started to change as basic training and the Air Base Defense School moved to Lackland Air Force Base. It is estimated about 6,800 recruits graduated from basic training at Parks AFB between 1951 and 1956.The base transitioned from an Air Training Command facility to a Continental Air Command installation.  In January 1957, the 2349th Air Base Wing and the 2349th Personnel Processing Group started operations as part of the Fourth Air Force.  The nearby regional Air Force hospital changed its designation at that time, too.  Personnel processing continued as the primary base operation until 1959 when the base closed.

​

Parks Air Force Base was notable as one of the few air force bases without a functional runway on site.