Georgia is rethinking what to do with a piece of World War II history that's been quietly serving as prison property for decades: a former flight training base built in the 1940s to prepare pilots for combat.

The state Department of Corrections issued a request for proposals last week seeking a planning firm to develop a master plan for the property. That kind of comprehensive planning typically comes before major decisions about whether to keep, sell, or redevelop state-owned land.

Hundreds of airbases like this one sprang up across the South during the war, chosen for their favorable weather and open space. Most were decommissioned after 1945 and transferred to states or sold off. Many became airports or industrial parks. Georgia turned this one into corrections property sometime in the postwar decades, part of a common pattern as states expanded prison systems using surplus federal land.

Now the property is 80 years old. That age brings it into the realm of historic preservation, just as Georgia's prison system faces budget pressures and ongoing scrutiny over facility conditions and overcrowding. The state runs more than 50 prisons holding about 47,000 inmates and has explored closing or consolidating facilities to cut costs.

A master plan will evaluate the property's condition, potential uses, and value. The outcome could range from continued corrections use with renovations, to sale for economic development, to historic preservation as part of growing efforts to document disappearing WWII sites before they're lost.

The corrections department will select a contractor in the coming weeks. The RFP doesn't specify a timeline for completing the plan or what the state intends to do with the property afterward.