[1][2] Because of the perceived vulnerability of Alaska immediately following the Pearl Harbor Attack, additional Army Air Corps units were authorized by General Henry H. Arnold for Alaska and plans were made to send modern aircraft to the Territory to replace the obsolete aircraft assigned.

[3][5] Plans called for three hard-surfaced runways (four were eventually built), but time was of the essence in the construction of the base, as the air defense of Dutch Harbor was dependent on them.

Instead of a hard surface, engineers chose to use a new material, pierced steel planking (PSP), which could be laid down quickly over a compressed gravel subsurface to provide the airfield with an all-weather capability.

Construction crews worked in three shifts, 24 hours a day laying down the runways and constructing a rudimentary support station, water and sewer lines, an electrical grid, communications, fuel and munitions storage sites and all the other necessities to convert a remote island site into an operational airfield capable of supporting heavy bombers.

They arrived at about noon to locate the Japanese aircraft carriers and counterattack; however, they landed at Fort Glenn about 1:30pm due to fog and low visibility.

After the war ended, Fort Glenn remained open as a refueling stop for transient aircraft in the Aleutians along with Military Air Transport Service flights using the Great Circle Route from Japan to the United States.

The last Air Force personnel were withdrawn by 30 September 1947, and the base was put on inactive status and was effectively abandoned.

Today hundreds of buildings, runways, and World War II artillery emplacements remain in various states of deterioration.

Today, Fort Glenn AAF is a virtual ghost town except for a family of cattle ranchers who have renovated several World War II buildings and who call the base home.

The expanse and undisturbed quality of the resource make Fort Glenn AAF an outstanding conceptual model for landscape preservation.

In 1991, National Park Service historians visited the site to review the World War II-related construction, infrastructure, landscape, and objects.

It was determined that any environmental cleanup should be designed to remove loose cables, transformers, hazardous material, toxic waste, and ordnance.

On Saturday July 12, 2008, nearby Mount Okmok, erupted, sending ash 50,000 feet in the air and forcing the evacuation of the residents of the ranch.