Del Carmen Airfield

Del Carmen Airfield is a former United States Army Air Forces airfield on Luzon in the Philippines. It was overrun by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Battle of the Philippines (1942).

Del Carmen Airfield
Part of Fifth Air Force
Luzon, Philippines
P-35's at Del Carmen field, 1941
TypeMilitary airfield
Site information
Controlled byUnited States Army Air Forces
Site history
Built1930s
In use1940–1941
(Occupied by the Japanese, December 1941 – January 1945)
Battles/warsBattle of the Philippines (1942)
Philippines Campaign (1944–45)

History

Company B, 803rd Engineer (Aviation) Battalion (Separate) began Del Carmen airfield in early November 1941. It was located to the south of Clark Field in Pampanga Province and west of Barrio Floridablanca. The airdrome was to be a sizable facility originally with three runways, each 6,780 feet long and 300 feet wide laid out in an "A" pattern—northwest-southeast (NW-SE), northeast–southwest (NE-SW), and east–west (E-W). Also on the construction list were about 100 buildings. Construction was to encompass barracks for 2,750 officers and enlisted men, both combat and support units, including one company of aviation engineers; aircraft and bomb storage warehouses; aircraft revetments, hospital and dispensary; under and above-ground storage for 750,000 gallons of gasoline, and a supporting road network.[1] By 30 November one runway was completed and other projects were under construction.[2] The Fifth Air Force based Seversky P-35As assigned to the 34th Pursuit Squadron, attached to the 24th Pursuit Group at the airfield prior to the Japanese air attack on the Philippines, 8 December 1941. Dust from the areas maritime and volcanic soils plagued the squadron's air operations.

On the day of the first attack by Japanese aircraft, fighters were ordered from Del Carmen to cover Clark Field but failed to arrive before the Japanese hit Clark shortly after 1200 hours. The 34th suffered a few casualties in combat, including its commander Lt. Sam Maret, but the Japanese destroyed most of the 34th's P-35A's with a bombing and strafing attack on 10 December. An advance echelon of Company B departed Del Carmen Field for Orani, Bataan, on 20 December 1941, and the rear guard evacuated the field on 25 or 26 December. The 24th left shortly thereafter.[3] After its occupation, it was used by Japanese aircraft as a satellite field for the Clark area.

After the recapture of Luzon during the Philippines Campaign (1944–45), the airfield was not used by the USAAF. It was, however, the scene of a Japanese attack on 7 December 1944 when Japanese General Yamashita ordered the entire First Airborne Brigade with two regiments to jump the American beachhead on Leyte on 6 December. Japanese paratroopers loaded into 95th Sentai Ki-49 "Helens" and Ki-57 "Topsys". They took off from Angeles South Airfield and Del Carmen Airfield. For the paratrooper drop and crash landings against the American liberated San Pablo Airfield and Buri Airfield at 1800 hours. Although the paratroopers caught the Americans by surprise, those who did reach the airfields were ineffective. The attack proved to be disorganized and an abortive effort.

See also

References
  1. Memo, Col Harold George to Philippine Department Engineer, 9 October 1941, Subject: Construction and Installations Desired, MMA, RG2, Box 1, Folder 3; Letter, Col. Francis C. Brady to Brig. Gen. Carl Spaatz, 17 November 1941, National Archives (NARA) Record Group 18, Box 117 (Project Files); Department Engineer, Philippine Department, Construction Progress Reports for Semi-Monthly Period Ending 30 November 1941, and period ending 15 December 1941, NARA RG338, Box 4383 (the Del Carmen Project was not listed on the report for 15 November 1941); William Bartsch, 8 December 1941: MacArthur's Pearl Harbor, pp. 163-64; Pvt. George Wonneman Diary and Interviews, 29 September – 15 November 1998 (Wonneman dated Company B’s arrival in Del Carmen as 27 October 1941); T. Walter Middleton, Flashbacks, p. 37; Pvt. Walter Lamm, Interviews, 18 August and 28 September 1998; Interview, Pvt. Joe B. Hill, 10 March 1998; Middleton, Flashbacks, p.33; Karl C. Dod, The War against Japan, p. 62, placed the start of construction at Del Carmen as 10 November.
  2. Department Engineer, Philippine Department, Construction Progress Reports for Semi-Monthly Period Ending 30 November 1941; Memo, Brig. Gen. Leonard Gerow to ACoS-Operations, 12 November 1941, Subject: Engineers, Aviation Facilities, NARA, RG165, Box 255; Lamm, Interview, 18 August 1998; Wonneman, Interview, 15 November 1998; [author undocumented], Far East Air Force and Provisional Air Corps Regiment Narrative, [n.d.[, NARA RG407, Entry 1054, Box 12 [27 Bombardment Group], p. 55.
  3. Wonneman Diary; "Ex-Prisoner [Paul A. Kloecker] Recalls Death March, The [Sarasota] Times, ca. December 1957; Pvt. Joe Poster, Interview, 24 October 1999; Pfc. Laurie Jack "Gil" Gillespie [military biography and map], militariaforum.com; Letter, James L. Leggett, Jr., to PHILRYCOM, 26 May 1947, Subject: Work on airstrips performed by the 803rd Engineer Battalion, NARA RG407, Entry 1054, Box 11; USAFFE G-4 Journal, 4 January 1942, Subject: From Galbraith, NARA RG496, Entry 540, Box 30. Documented dates of departure from Del Carmen varied among 20, 25 December, and 26. Leggett clarified the confusion after the war in a letter to PHILRYUCOM, explaining the departure of the rear guard. See Memo, Richardson to Engineer, USAFFE, 26 December 1941, Subject: Report Requested by Telephone on 22 December 1941.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

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