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Del Carmen Airfield
Part of Fifth Air Force
Luzon, Philippines
P-35's at Del Carmen field, 1941
Type	Military airfield
Site information
Controlled by	United States Army Air Forces
Site history
Built	1930s
In use	1940–1941 (Occupied by the Japanese, December 1941 – January 1945)
Battles/wars	Battle of the Philippines (1942) Philippines Campaign (1944–45)

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).

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. By 30 November one runway was completed and other projects were under construction. 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. 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

• Geography of the Philippines
• Military History of the Philippines
• Military History of the United States
• United States Army Air Forces in the South West Pacific Theatre

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; , Far East Air Force and Provisional Air Corps Regiment Narrative, , p. 55.
3. Wonneman Diary; "Ex-Prisoner Recalls Death March, The Times, ca. December 1957; Pvt. Joe Poster, Interview, 24 October 1999; Pfc. Laurie Jack "Gil" Gillespie , 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.

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

• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) . Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• The Army Air Forces in World War II, Chapter 6, Pearl Harbor and Clark Field

v t e USAAF Fifth Air Force in World War II
Previously: Philippine Department Air Force (1941); Far East Air Force (1941-1942)
Airfields	Pacific USAAF in Australia USAAF in the Southwest Pacific USAAF in Okinawa
Units	Commands V Bomber V Fighter 5th Interceptor (Provisional) Wings 54th Troop Carrier 85th Fighter 86th Fighter 91st Reconnaissance 308th Bombardment 309th Bombardment 310th Bombardment Groups Air Commando 3d Air Commando Bombardment 3d Bombardment 7th Bombardment 19th Bombardment 22d Bombardment 27th Bombardment 38th Bombardment 43d Bombardment 90th Bombardment 312th Bombardment 345th Bombardment 380th Bombardment 417th Bombardment Combat Cargo 2d Combat Cargo Fighter 8th Fighter 24th Pursuit 35th Fighter 49th Fighter 58th Fighter 348th Fighter 475th Fighter Reconnaissance 6th Reconnaissance 71st Reconnaissance Troop Carrier 317th Troop Carrier 374th Troop Carrier 375th Troop Carrier 433d Troop Carrier Squadrons Bombardment 31st Bombardment Night Fighter 418th Night Fighter 421st Night Fighter 547th Intelligence Reconnaissance 2d Observation 8th Photographic Reconnaissance 36th Photographic Reconnaissance Troop Carrier 21st Troop Carrier 22d Troop Carrier 65th Troop Carrier 66th Troop Carrier
United States Army Air Forces First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Twentieth

• Defunct airports in the Philippines
• World War II airfields in the Philippines
• Military history of the Philippines during World War II
• Military facilities in Pampanga
• Airfields of the United States Army Air Corps during the Battle of the Philippines (1941–42)
• History of Pampanga