History of Clark Air Base
Following the incidents that led to the beginning of US–Philippine hostilities and Emilio Aguinaldo's withdrawal to the north from Manila, the American forces attempted to seize control of this valuable line of communication.
On 17 March 1899, General Aguinaldo moved the seat of his government from Nueva Ecija to the town of Angeles, which lay astride the Manila-Dagupan Railroad, and there celebrated the first anniversary of the Philippine Republic, on 12 June 1899.
In the 1920s the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Field Artillery Regiment was activated and regularly went to Camp O'Donnell for target practice or to Lingayen, Pangasinan for maneuvers with all U.S. forces based on Luzon.
When the attack on Clark Field came, maintenance crews were in the process of preparing the one reconnaissance plane, changing the bomb loads in the other B-17s, and refueling the fighters, which had just come in from patrol.
Captain Boyd Wagner, a native of Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania, was Commander of the 17th Pursuit Squadron on 8 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Clark Field, and became one of the first American pilots to engage the enemy in the air.
This plan called for the gradual withdrawal of American and Philippine forces south past several defensive positions (one of which ran through Tarlac, just north of Clark) to the Bataan Peninsula, where they could await reinforcements from Hawaii and the U.S.
After World War II, the USAF established it first aircraft warning and control unit which remained on its summit, until relocated to Wallace Air Station at Poro Point on the Lingayen Gulf coast in December 1962.
In 1955, the underbrush on Lily Hill was burned back, revealing the remains of two Japanese aircraft and many smaller artifacts attesting to Japan's strong defense of Clark.
During the war, the American liberators thought that these suicide planes were flying from Northern Luzon, but in their postwar interrogations, Japanese airmen insisted that the attacks had originated at Clark Field.
This fact subsequently was confirmed: two Kamikaze pilots had flown circuitous routes to avoid U.S. fighter patrols, and thus had left the impression that the attacks came from Northern Luzon.
Post-war investigations revealed that from the beginning of Allied air attacks on Clark, Nichols, and Nielson fields in October 1944 until February 1945, 1,505 Japanese aircraft were put out of action on the ground.
The P-47 Thunderbolt-equipped 201st Fighter Squadron of the Fuerza Aérea Expedicionária Mexicana arrived in the Philippines in early 1945 and participated in the Luzon Campaign, as well as in subsequent operations against Formosa.
[1][2] Following the 8 December 1941 air attack on Clark Field and MacArthur's decision to fall back on Bataan, American forces abandoned Fort Stotsenburg.
It was built on Henry Avenue at the east end of the Parade Ground in 1947 as administrative offices on the site of the original 217-bed Post Hospital, which dated back to September 1903.
The Silver Wing Recreation Center, constructed in 1949, provided a host of activities for assigned personnel and their dependents, including tours, musical instruction, chess, card, and billiard tournaments.
While it played host to numerous sporting and entertainment events, the Bamboo Bowl's "shining hour" came in the spring of 1975, when it and its grounds served as the site for the massive tent city that supported Operations "New Life" and "Babylift."
The original Fort Stotsenburg hospital had been located at the east end of the Parade Ground, on the site now occupied by the Headquarters Building for the 3d Combat Support Group.
As the U.S. became more deeply involved in the war in Southeast Asia, Clark's role as a supporting base became more important and more people were assigned than could be housed in existing permanent quarters.
As large as this facility is, during Thirteenth Air Force operations, such as its periodic Cope Thunder training exercises, many transients have to be billeted in contracted hotels off-base.
The 3d Pursuit participated in the vain attempt to defend against the Japanese air attacks of 8 December 1941, accounting for almost all of the enemy aircraft downed by American fighter planes during that engagement.
Following several late-night violent attacks against American personnel by Filipino citizens during the late summer of 1968, the Base Commander, Colonel Ernest P. Pate established a curfew.
Under the Nixon Doctrine, the U.S. continued to provide diplomatic, financial, and logistical support to Southeast Asian non-communist governments, but to lessen correspondingly the active roles of its own armed forces in those nations.
Two years after the ending of America's ground combat role in Southeast Asia and the repatriation of its POWs from North Vietnamese concentration camps, the Communist forces in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia began to score a stunning series of victories.
This humanitarian effort suffered a major setback on 4 April 1975, when the initial C-5A Galaxy carrying evacuees crashed shortly after taking off from Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Air Base, killing 98 children, 46 escorts, and 11 USAF crewmembers.
This structure was erected just in front of the Main Gate on Mitchell Highway, between the base proper and Angeles City and soon became a widely recognized symbol of this new spirit in the long tradition of Philippine-American relations.
The last day of 1983 saw the beginning of a new era at Clark Air Base with the transmission of live television broadcasts from the United States through the Satellite Earth Terminal.
By 25 February 1986, most of the AFP had switched to the rebel side and loyalist forces from northern Luzon, under Brigadier General Tomas Dumpit, who supposedly were on their way to attack Enrile and Ramos never materialized.
Along with the Marcos party, Clark AB personnel packaged up and sent out a considerable amount of "personal effects", the same ones that later were seized by U.S. Customs officials in Hawaii and which became the subject of so much media controversy.
This new Youth Center building houses a number of features designed to appeal to the younger members of Clark's community: an airconditioned basketball court, large screen television, disco, pool and ping-pong tables, video games, and a snack bar.
[3] On 10 June 1991, two days before Mount Pinatubo began the summer-long series of eruptions, Clark Air Base was completely evacuated of all but mission essential personnel.
