Chiefly used as a PAF transport/helicopter airbase, the Maharlika Hall located at the base is used by the president of the Philippines when departing for foreign or domestic trips.

The base is named after Filipino World War II pilot Jesús A. Villamor.

A Fifth Air Force base, Nichols Field was within the territory of Imperial Japan during their occupation of the Philippines from December 1941 to January 1945.

In 2010, the AVSECOM van (called by some as "Ninoy Aquino's death van") which had carried the body of Ninoy Aquino to the hospital after his assassination in 1983 was found rotting inside Nichols Air Base (now called Villamor Airbase).

[2] Photos of this "death van" were subsequently posted on the blog site of the Filipino investigative journalist, Raissa Robles, who reported the discovery.