 The ceremony was held adjacent to the airfield administration building on the concrete parking area.Present at this ceremony included USAAF leaders Brigadier General Frank O'Driscoll Hunter and Major General Carl A. Spaatz, Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker, U.S. and English war correspondents, Air Marshal Harold Edwards (RCAF officer), along with Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas, RAF.The ceremony officiated both the commissioning of the 4th Fighter Group under the command of Colonel Edward W. Anderson (Manhattan, Kansas) USAAF, and the establishment of the airfield as a new airbase of the 4th Fighter Group.