WHO

Better luck was had in securing the construction of other facilities that were needed for the efficient support of flying operations at Albrook. The 1932 Emergency Relief Construction Act identified Albrook Field as one of its beneficiary sites, and subsequent appropriations for new construction at Albrook were obtained in FY33 and FY34, totaling some $250,000. In 1934, Albrook received two new buildings, including an Air Corps shops building (Building 403) and a Parachute and Armament building (Building 405). The shops building appears to have been constructed from the components of the old temporary hangar that had been placed on the Balboa Fill Landing Field in the 1920s. This structure was a U.S. All-Steel Hangar, a standard type that was erected all over the world by the Army during and after the First World War (Figure 18). The Parachute and Armament building featured concrete, stucco, and tile construction (Figure 19).¹⁰⁰

Figure 18 - Albrook Building 403, Shop Building

Figure 19 - Albrook Building 405, Parachute and Armament Building

Figure 20 - Albrook Building 406, Paint, Oil, and Dope House (Source of three photos: War Department Q.M.C. Form 117, Real Estate Office, Howard AFB, RoP)

In 1935, Albrook received more new construction in the form of a Paint, Oil, and Dope House (Building 406), a Quartermaster Warehouse (Building 407), a Dispensary (Building 865), and a Headquarters and Operations Building (Building 868) (Figures 20 through 23). These buildings all shared structural and architectural elements similar to the structures of the original construction campaign, with concrete slab foundation, and concrete block walls with stucco cladding. Roofs were the typical clay tile or corrugated metal.¹⁰¹

Figure 21 - Albrook Building 407, QM Maintenance Warehouse

Figure 22 - Albrook Building 865, Dispensary

Figure 23 - Albrook Building 868, Headquarters and Operations (Source of three photos: War Department Q.M.C. Form 117, Real Estate Office, Howard AFB, RoP)

By 1936, commercial air traffic that had utilized France Field began to shift to Albrook, where better landing facilities were available. The brittle runway at France was unable to accept the weight of the civilian transports that Pan Am operated at the time. One major accident had already occurred when a heavily loaded DC-2 had punched one of its landing gear through the field surface and crashed. In order Albrook flightline that arose from this civilian air traffic, a new hangar was approved to be added to the southern end of the runway, away from the three original hangars. The structure -- Hangar 6 (Building 450, Standard Plan 3696-1) -- was begun in 1938 and completed the following year (Figure 24). While a good bit larger than Hangars 1-3, this structure resembled them in structural elements and architectural style.¹⁰²

Beyond these minor improvements, intended to fill holes in the original program of construction, essentially no new expansion was approved for Albrook Field during the funding droughts of the Depression era. Not until 1938 did the base even receive its first swimming pool (Figure 25). Even then, Albrook lacked proper recreational facilities such as gymnasia and playing fields. Moreover, Department officials were not confident in the current defense establishment's ability to meet a war-time crisis. Already by 1936, the Commanding General of the Panama Department, General Brown was testifying before Congress that much expansion would be necessary at both France and Albrook Fields to put them in state of readiness for any serious conflict. Significant expansion of housing facilities, in particular, were needed to shelter increasing troop strengths. For the department as a whole, Brown called for appropriations of $5 million over each of the next five years to bring them to a state of meaningful readiness, and the two flying fields presented the most pressing needs in his opinion. Such repeated requests for the expansion of the Army's air arm in Panama fell on deaf ears during the Great Depression, but began to receive more serious consideration in the late 1930s. By this time, growing tensions in Europe and the Far East had begun to convince American military and political leaders that some expansion of the defense establishment would be necessary to ensure the security of the nation during the coming troubles. By 1939, expansion programs that had been approved under the Wilcox Act of 1936 finally began to get under way, and the most significant construction issues for Albrook would no longer revolve around a lack of funds, but rather, would entail questions of how to expend all the available funds fast enough to meet its rapidly growing needs.¹⁰³

Figure 24 - Albrook Field flight line showing completed Building 450 (Hangar #6) and now apron, 9 July 1940

Figure 25 - Albrook base swimming pool, completed In 1938 by Troop labor, showing chapel at left, 1944 (Source two photos: History Office, Howard AFB, RoP