This meant that the Army was not only the owner, but would appoint an Army Commander to be in charge of a "full-fledged" Army Base.
It also meant that the purpose of the Base was to train crews for the Army Air Force, and was, therefore, an Army Air Field.
So, everyone is correct. It was both the Pratt Army Air Base and the Pratt Army Air Field. The personnel of the facility, however, preferred P.A.A.F. Confusing? Yes.
The February announcement also included further construction requirements in order to meet "Base" standards. The additions, at an estimated cost of $3,000,000.00, included more barracks, bringing the total number to 72. This would be enough to house 7,500 men. There were to be eight more day rooms, more mess halls, and a complete modern one hundred bed hospital. It was an around-the-clock project until its completion.
More land was purchased on the east of highway U.S. 281. It was then necessary to construct a by-pass on the highway to circumvent the Base. This by-pass began on the south near the Main Gate, and curved around to the east side of the Base to the far north end of the facility.
This addition of farm land required the dislocation of another farm family. A second family on this land, however, whose house was just inside the Main Gate, was allowed to remain. Each member, curiously, was required to show their official pass card at the gate just to enter the Base and "go home".
After the cold, miserable winter, Spring arrived, and on Sunday, May 2, 1943, the gates of Pratt Army Air Field were opened to the public. By gate count, 13,146 people responded to the invitation to see "what had been going on" north of Pratt for the past year.
The festivities began at 1:15, in one of the big hangers, with a concert by the Pratt High School band, under the direction of Gerald Weaver. This was followed by the introduction of guests, such as the Commanders of most Army and Navy bases in Kansas. Representatives of the many construction companies involved in the project were also introduced. Kansas Governor Andrew Schoeppel delivered the main address, with a response by Col. Albert F. Hegenberger, Salina, in command of the 21st Squadron.
Each visitor was then handed printed instructions concerning where they could and could not venture as they inspected the grounds and a variety of Army planes flown in for the occasion.
One news reporter commented that "mothers of servicemen were especially eager to see the barracks with their neatly made-up bunks, the gleaming kitchens in the mess halls where the food for the men in service is prepared, and the hospital and dispensary that offered the latest medical services." Mothers like to have their boys well cared for.
Excitement was provided by bright red Culver cadet planes that frequently swept in close formation over the field. A B-26 twice swept at house-top level, but did not land. A large crowd swarmed the B-17 Flying Fortress parked far out on the runway.
At 4:30 three short blasts of the siren was warning that all visitors must be off the property by 5:00.
Among Gov. Schoeppel's remarks was, "In its way, the P.A.A.F. will be as important in the war effort as our outposts in the Aleutians, our defense lines in the Pacific, our advancing forces in Africa. The drive on Berlin and an assualt against Tokyo is here at home, at training fields such as this."
These words proved to be true. Pratt County, Kansas, was "On the world map."