Officers quarters receive some exterior work at Elmendorf Field Sept. 8, 1941. Before the Alaska District formed in 1946, the Seattle District managed Army Corps of Engineers activities in Alaska. The War Department placed all Alaska military construction under the Corps starting in 1941. Construction on Elmendorf Field began June 8, 1940, as a major and permanent military air field near Anchorage. The first Air Corps personnel arrived Aug. 12, 1940. The War Department formally designated Elmendorf Field as Fort Richardson Nov. 12, 1940, but the air facilities on the post were named Elmendorf Field in honor of Capt. Hugh M. Elmendorf, killed in 1933 while flight testing an experimental fighter near Wright Field, Ohio. After World War II, the Army moved its operations to the new Fort Richardson, and the Air Force assumed control of the original Fort Richardson and renamed it Elmendorf Air Force Base. As a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure, Fort Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force Base merged to become Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Oct. 1, 2010.