In November 1940, construction of the Pine Bluff School of Aviation began utilizing $200,000 in municipal bond money and a $107,320 grant from President Franklin D. Roosevelt s Depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA). Earlier that year, as World War II raged in Europe, the Civil Aviation Authority adopted stricter regulations to allow airfields to accommodate larger and faster aircraft. Consequently, Pine Bluff s first airfield, Toney Field, became obsolete.