In early 1941, before the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. military began plans to expand land and air strength because of growing world tensions. In August 1942, the War Department authorized funds for a military installation at Pratt, Kansas, one of several Army Air Fields established on the Kansas prairies along with Great Bend, Salina, Herrington, and Walker Field near Hays. These new air bases provided the longer runways required by the B-29 and served as staging areas to form and train B-29 crews. Construction of Pratt Army Air Field began in September 1942. Located about 3 miles north of the city of Pratt and covering more than 4 square miles, it was designated in February 1943 as a full-fledged Army airbase for crew training and officially dedicated on May 2, 1943. Its mission was to process and equip for overseas duty the various bombardment wings formed and trained for the B-29 Superfortress. The air field featured three 8,000-foot runways, five hangars that could house B-29s, 72 barracks with capacity for 3,060 enlisted men, eight officers' quarters housing 522 officers, a machine shop for replacing or repairing aircraft parts, several base operations buildings, base headquarters, and more than 100 separate functional offices, along with many other buildings and facilities similar to those of a small city.