Stories About PAAF

Summary of Pratt Army Air Field History

The Pratt Army Air Field was constructed in south central Kansas in Pratt County. The field was located about three miles north of the city of Pratt, a community of about 7,000, and which was the only urban area readily accessible to personnel of the field. The area of the field sloped slightly from west to east, with an elevation varying from 1,969 feet to 1,930 feet.

Construction, begun in 1942, was of the theater of operations type. By the time of the official dedication of the field in May 1943, some 60 barracks had been completed giving accommodations to 2,460 enlisted men. Total authorized construction called for a total of 72 barracks with a capacity of 3.060 enlisted men and eight officers' quarters with a housing capacity of 522.

By Quenten Hannawald
From Pratt Tribune Feb. 6, 1991
Building Pratt Army Air Field
In the late part of 1941 or early 1942, a British Operational Training unit was to be built on the recently purchased ground for the Municipal airport. It was to have two to three satellite fields. A rail spur was surveyed into the new city field. In May it was reported that the Fairview school was moved a mile west of its original site, as the area was to be one of the satellite fields. A little later the unit was canceled.

By Quenten Hannawald
From Pratt Tribune Feb. 13, 1991
As construction proceeded on the Pratt Army Air Field, Army personnel started appearing at the installation. At first it was the Army Engineer and his staff. Later Lt. Col. John P. Nelson was assigned as the first Commanding Officer of the Pratt Army Air Field. On February 2, 1943 a detachment of 12 men arrived for duty at the field. The men were quartered in town as the mess hall was being used by one of the contractors to feed his men.

By Quenten Hannawald February 20, 1991 Pratt Kansas Tribune
Personal Memories of the Army Air Base
I have been urged to give a story of my involvement at the Pratt Army Air Base during World War II. At the time, it seemed very confusing to even be out there. In a way we were involved and didn't realize.

Source: Pride August 26, 1959 (A Supplement to the Pratt Daily Tribune)
First B-29 Superfortress from Pratt
At 1 a.m. of a day late in March of 1944 a B-29 Superfortress took off from the Pratt Army Air base, bound for India, the first such plane to leave the United States for the Pacific theater of World War II.

Instructions In Jumping With Parachute Given Fliers At Pratt Air Base

Source: Pratt Tailwind (Issue ??)

Should any of the combat crew members passing through the Pratt air base suffer any injury when jumping with a parachute, it won't be the fault of Captain J. L. McGowan, base personal equipment officer, the Pratt army air field Tailwind reports in a recent article. In conjunction with the group personal equipment officers and Pvt. Joe De Vita of Section “E” of the base unit, who served as instructor and demonstrator, Capt. McGowan is supervising the instruction of all combat crew members of the bomb group in the proper way to hit the silk.

Source: The Pratt Union
Dec.7, 1944

Bob Hope Here

Three thousand GI's stationed at Pratt Army Air Field laughed until they cried Friday night as Bob Hope, and his troupe of three entertainers presented a laugh-packed fun-fest which lasted a full hour and twenty minutes. The show, staged atop huge crates used for shipping bomber motors, was held in the field's Maintenance Hangar with the receptive GIs using the cement floor for orchestra seats.

Source: Pride August 26, 1959 (A Supplement to the Pratt Daily Tribune)

The big former B-29 training base here will be transferred to the city of Pratt today.

Source: Pratt Tribune, November 12, 1954
Here for Visit with Wife's Parents
Colonel Flew Those B-29s All The Way
An officer who was in charge of training the first crews with the B-29 at the former Pratt Air Force base has returned to this area for a new assignment after putting the last B-29 bomber in storage. He is Lt. Col. A. E. (Gene) Aenchbacher who was in command of the last B-29 to leave the Pacific area and recently honored with a ceremony in Honolulu

By Carol Bronson
Pratt Tribune Apr. 27, 2001
An opportunity is available this weekend for those who remember when there was an Army Air Field instead of a municipal airport north of Pratt, with long-range heavy bombers instead of light civilian planes, as well as for those who are unaware of the community's importance in World War II.