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Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base is a Philippine Air Force base in Luzon, located 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Angeles City, and about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Metro Manila. It was previously operated by the U.S. Air Force and, before that, the U.S. Army, from 1903 to 1991. The base covered 14.3 square miles (37 km2) with a military reservation extending north that covered another 230 square miles (600 km2).
The base was a stronghold of combined Philippine and American forces during the final months of World War II, and a backbone of logistical support during the Vietnam War until 1975. Following the departure of American forces in 1991 due to the eruption of Mount Pinatubo and rejection by the Philippine Senate for renewing the presence of U.S. military bases in the Philippines, the base became the site of Clark International Airport, as well as the Clark Freeport Zone and the Air Force City of the Philippine Air Force.
In April 2016, an air contingent of USAF A-10s and HH-60s was deployed from US air bases in Pyeongtaek and Okinawa to Clark. The air contingent included five A-10C Thunderbolt IIs from the 51st Fighter Wing, Osan AB, South Korea; three HH-60G Pave Hawks from the 18th Wing, Kadena AB, Japan; and approximately 200 personnel deployed from multiple Pacific Air Force units. The primary mission of the contingent appears to be to patrol disputed South China Sea islands, "to provide greater and more transparent air and maritime domain awareness to ensure safety for military and civilian activities in international waters and airspace." The air contingent builds upon previous deployments by U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft to Clark.
Clark Air Base was originally established as Fort Stotsenburg in Sapang Bato, Angeles, Pampanga in 1903 under control of the U.S. Army. A portion of Fort Stotsenburg was officially set aside for the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps and named Clark Field in September 1919 after Harold M. Clark, who died in a seaplane crash in the Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal Zone on May 2, 1919. Clark later served as a landing field for U.S. Army Air Corps medium bombers and accommodated half of the heavy bombers stationed in the Philippines during the 1930s. It was very large for an air field of its day, and in the late summer and fall of 1941, many aircraft were sent to Clark in anticipation of a war with Imperial Japan. However, most of them were destroyed on the ground during an air raid nine hours after the Pearl Harbor attack.
The base was attacked by Japanese forces on December 8, 1941 destroying dozens of aircraft and the base was evacuated on December 24. American forces on Bataan and Corregidor fell on April 9, 1942 leading a few days later to the brutal Bataan Death March. Clark became a major center for Japanese air operations throughout the war. Japanese aircraft flying out of Clark participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of the Second World War.
During the war, Allied prisoners on the Bataan Death March passed by the main gate of Clark Air Base as they followed the railway tracks north towards Camp O'Donnell. During October through January 1945 American air raids damaged or destroyed over 1500 Japanese aircraft. On January 31, American forces regained possession of Clark Field after three months of fierce fighting to liberate the Philippines. It was immediately returned to U.S. Army Air Forces control.
Clark grew into a major American air base during the Cold War, as a launching pad for the Korean War and serving as an important logistics hub during the Vietnam War.
Clark and the other United States bases in the Philippines became the focus of significant controversy in the Philippines during the Dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, becoming one of the most common points of contention raised during numerous major protests. Meanwhile, Marcos was able to use ongoing negotiations for the renewal of the US bases treaty as a way of limiting US government criticism and intervention against human rights abuses, attacks on press freedom, and the shuttering of democratic institutions in the Philippines. When the Marcoses were deposed in February 1986, they fled the Presidential Palace and were flown to Clark, and it was from there that the US government flew them into exile in Hawaii.
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Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base is a Philippine Air Force base in Luzon, located 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Angeles City, and about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Metro Manila. It was previously operated by the U.S. Air Force and, before that, the U.S. Army, from 1903 to 1991. The base covered 14.3 square miles (37 km2) with a military reservation extending north that covered another 230 square miles (600 km2).
The base was a stronghold of combined Philippine and American forces during the final months of World War II, and a backbone of logistical support during the Vietnam War until 1975. Following the departure of American forces in 1991 due to the eruption of Mount Pinatubo and rejection by the Philippine Senate for renewing the presence of U.S. military bases in the Philippines, the base became the site of Clark International Airport, as well as the Clark Freeport Zone and the Air Force City of the Philippine Air Force.
In April 2016, an air contingent of USAF A-10s and HH-60s was deployed from US air bases in Pyeongtaek and Okinawa to Clark. The air contingent included five A-10C Thunderbolt IIs from the 51st Fighter Wing, Osan AB, South Korea; three HH-60G Pave Hawks from the 18th Wing, Kadena AB, Japan; and approximately 200 personnel deployed from multiple Pacific Air Force units. The primary mission of the contingent appears to be to patrol disputed South China Sea islands, "to provide greater and more transparent air and maritime domain awareness to ensure safety for military and civilian activities in international waters and airspace." The air contingent builds upon previous deployments by U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft to Clark.
Clark Air Base was originally established as Fort Stotsenburg in Sapang Bato, Angeles, Pampanga in 1903 under control of the U.S. Army. A portion of Fort Stotsenburg was officially set aside for the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps and named Clark Field in September 1919 after Harold M. Clark, who died in a seaplane crash in the Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal Zone on May 2, 1919. Clark later served as a landing field for U.S. Army Air Corps medium bombers and accommodated half of the heavy bombers stationed in the Philippines during the 1930s. It was very large for an air field of its day, and in the late summer and fall of 1941, many aircraft were sent to Clark in anticipation of a war with Imperial Japan. However, most of them were destroyed on the ground during an air raid nine hours after the Pearl Harbor attack.
The base was attacked by Japanese forces on December 8, 1941 destroying dozens of aircraft and the base was evacuated on December 24. American forces on Bataan and Corregidor fell on April 9, 1942 leading a few days later to the brutal Bataan Death March. Clark became a major center for Japanese air operations throughout the war. Japanese aircraft flying out of Clark participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of the Second World War.
During the war, Allied prisoners on the Bataan Death March passed by the main gate of Clark Air Base as they followed the railway tracks north towards Camp O'Donnell. During October through January 1945 American air raids damaged or destroyed over 1500 Japanese aircraft. On January 31, American forces regained possession of Clark Field after three months of fierce fighting to liberate the Philippines. It was immediately returned to U.S. Army Air Forces control.
Clark grew into a major American air base during the Cold War, as a launching pad for the Korean War and serving as an important logistics hub during the Vietnam War.
Clark and the other United States bases in the Philippines became the focus of significant controversy in the Philippines during the Dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, becoming one of the most common points of contention raised during numerous major protests. Meanwhile, Marcos was able to use ongoing negotiations for the renewal of the US bases treaty as a way of limiting US government criticism and intervention against human rights abuses, attacks on press freedom, and the shuttering of democratic institutions in the Philippines. When the Marcoses were deposed in February 1986, they fled the Presidential Palace and were flown to Clark, and it was from there that the US government flew them into exile in Hawaii.