Because more land was required for the long runways necessary for novice pilots, the town council promptly called another bond election to authorize an additional $50,000.

Both the construction and the early flying phases of the base were handicapped by wind-whipped dust until late 1943, when extensive palliation efforts relieved the situation.

A week later five more school squadrons, each with 80 men, arrived from Lemoore Army Air Field, California, as the vanguard of the eventual population of 4,000.

PAAF consisted chiefly of "theater of operations" type buildings-cheap, rapidly constructed, single-story structures covered with black tarpaper.

Off-base housing in Pecos and neighboring towns was very limited, for an even larger airfield, Pyote Air Force Base, had been built twenty miles (32 km) east.

PAAF eventually set up dormitories and small apartments to house civilian employees and some military families on base.

The first Pecos class, designated 43-A, graduated 133 cadets and student officers after nine weeks of combined ground school and flight training.

When the last advanced class at PAAF, 45-B, received silver wings and commissions as second lieutenants or appointments as flight officers on April 15, 1945, the active mission of the field ended.

The Pecos Municipal Airport continued to be located on the remaining airfield property, but most of the original military facilities were torn down.