A series of potential plans for the construction campaign at Albrook was submitted by the Department Engineers in early 1928, and by May Plan D was adopted. A dispute immediately began between the Engineering office and members of the Air Corps planning staff over the siting of the hangars along the flight line. The Air Corps officials insisted that the southern three hangars of the plan be removed to the south to allow for the longest possible east-west approach to the flying field. By early 1929, the dispute had been resolved and Plan J was adopted and approved by the Engineers. This plan called for six double-hangars, the southern three of which were to be separated from the northern three to allow for the desired approach path. The number of hangars was later amended to four for reasons of economy. Four large barracks were laid out in a shallow crescent plan to the west of the flight line, with space left for the addition of a fifth barracks when funding allowed. Married Officer and NCO quarters were divided into two general sections, with the officers' quarters situated along what are now Dargue, Hazelhurst, and Canfield Avenues, and NCO quarters situated along what are now Hall and Hanson Streets and Sempsey Circle (Figure 7).

In 1929, a contract was let to the Panama Canal Company for the hydraulic and dry fill operations necessary for the resurfacing of the flying field, and work began immediately. Original bids from a great number of American contractors for the building construction projects were opened in October 1930, but all exceeded the Congressional appropriation, and were rejected. The construction plan was then revised to allow for less expensive construction materials, although no reductions in the scope of construction were approved. New bids were submitted by November 1930, and the resulting contracts divided the work between three different companies. The J. A. Jones Construction Co., of Charlotte, NC received the contract for the construction of all barracks, quarters, utilities, and the hangar and shop foundations. J. W. Patience received the contract for the erection of the hangars and shops. Tucker T. McClure was selected for the construction of aprons, roads, and ramps.⁹⁰

The Panama Canal Company began work on the flying field in 1929, and proceeded rapidly thereafter. The project called for hydraulic fill varying in depth from 2-6 ft over the entire field. This fill was obtained from the Canal prism, and amounted to some 1.2 million cubic yards of material (Figure 8). Additional dry fill to a depth of 1 ft was then authorized for certain areas to support aprons, runways, hangars, and shops. These filling operations were all completed by early 1931 (Figure 9). By that time, the two small rivers that flowed through the Albrook reservation were also directed through underground culverts. A system of drains and culverts was then emplaced throughout the flying field to allow for rapid drainage during tropical storms. These efforts improved the field's ability to operate in adverse weather, but even then significant delays were experienced after heavy rains. The nature of the filled land on which Albrook was situated continued to present a source of difficulty.

Having been applied in three different efforts, the field experienced a constant uneven settling, resulting in pocket depressions that filled with water and required far too long to drain and dry. This constant settling action left the field very uneven -- even exposing drain covers at times, which posed particular hazards to landing operations. The drainage system was fine for continental U.S. precipitation levels, but was completely inadequate for tropical conditions. After heavy rains, the field required days to dry out before it could be used again. As early as 1931, Major General Preston Brown, commanding general of the Panama Canal Department, stated that concrete runways placed in the direction of the prevailing winds would be absolutely necessary for safe, reliable, efficient aircraft operations from Albrook Field. This improvement, however, was delayed for many years due to funding shortages, and was finally completed only in 1939. Even with this artificial surface, in fact, yearly settling produced many maintenance and repair problems, which eventually played a large role in the decision to abandon the field in favor of Howard AFB in 1961. ⁹¹

^{(Footnotes and bibliography are at the end of this section)}