Naval Air Station Cubi Point

Naval Air Station Cubi Point

Naval Base Subic Bay
Naval Air Station Cubi Point; Naval Base Subic Bay
	IATA: NCP; ICAO: RPLB;
Summary
Airport type	Naval Air Station
Operator	United States Navy
Location	Bataan, Philippines
Built	1951
In use	Decommissioned 1992
Commander	n/a
Elevation AMSL	64 ft / 19 m
Coordinates	14°47′40.02″N120°16′16.91″E / 14.7944500°N 120.2713639°E
Runways

Last updated December 09, 2023

U.S. Naval Air Station Cubi Point was a United States Navy aerial facility located at the edge of Naval Base Subic Bay and abutting the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines.

Background

During the Korean War, Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Chief of Naval Operations saw the need for a naval air station at Cubi Point. It was a rugged and jungle-covered finger of land 3 miles (4.8 km) from Subic Naval Base. Radford believed the air station would be a vital link for the U.S. Navy in the Philippines.

In spite of the magnitude of the job and the tremendous difficulties the construction involved, the project was approved by The Pentagon. Civilian contractors were initially contracted to fulfill the project, but after seeing the forbidding Zambales Mountains and the maze of jungle at Cubi Point, they claimed it could not be done. The Navy's Seabees were then given the project in 1951. The first Seabees to arrive were MCB-3 on October 2, 1951; the second, MCB-5, arrived on November 5, 1951; the third, MCB-2 arrived early in 1952. MCBs 9 and 11 followed later.

The first problem encountered was moving the fishing village of Banicain, which occupied a portion of the site for the new airfield. The town and its residents were moved to Olongapo, which became New Banicain. The former village of Banicain is now under 45 feet (14 m) of earth.

The next, and biggest, issue was cutting a mountain in half and moving soil to fill in Subic Bay and create a 10,000-foot-long (3,000 m) runway. The Seabees blasted coral to fill a section of Subic Bay, filled swampland, removed trees as large as 150 feet (46 m) tall and 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m) in diameter. It was one of the largest earthmoving projects in the world, equivalent to the construction of the Panama Canal. The construction project took five years and an estimated 20 million man-hours.

The $100-million facility (equivalent to $829 million in 2022) was commissioned on July 25, 1956 and comprised an air station and an adjacent pier that was capable of docking the Navy's largest carriers. On December 21, 1972, Naval Air Station Cubi Point was renamed to honor Admiral Arthur W. Radford. Radford had the unusual honor of personally dedicating the facility. A plaque memorializing the occasion reads:

Dedicated in honor of Admiral Arthur W. Radford, whose foresight in founding U.S. Naval Air Station Cubi Point has enabled the United States Navy to provide invaluable support to the Seventh Fleet and to carry out its obligations under the Philippines-United States Mutual Defense Treaty.

Operations

Eventually, NAS Cubi Point served as the primary maintenance, repair and supply center for the 400 carrier-based aircraft of the Seventh Fleet's carrier force. During the Vietnam War, its jet engine shop turned out two jet engines per day to keep pace with demand.

NAS Cubi Point and Naval Base Subic Bay were also prominently used during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

On June 15, 1991, Mount Pinatubo, only 20 miles (32 km) from Subic Bay, erupted and blanketed the facility in ash 1 foot (30 cm) deep. Dependents were evacuated and the Navy began an intense clean-up effort to return the station to normal operations. Within two weeks, they returned the station back to limited operations. Within four weeks, the Navy had restored almost all services to most of the family housing. By September, most dependents had returned to Subic Bay and Cubi Point, but in the same month the Senate of the Philippines voted to require the United States to withdraw from all of its facilities in the Philippines. The withdrawal was completed in November 1992 and shortly after NAS Cubi Point became Cubi Point International Airport, later renamed Subic Bay International Airport. Upon closure, the vast collection of squadron memorabilia displayed in the Cubi Point Officers' Club was shipped to the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola, Florida, and now forms the decor of the Cubi Bar Café, which opened in 1996 as the museum's restaurant.^[1]

Accidents and incidents

5 December 1971: P-3A Orion #152151 had 2 engines explode shortly after takeoff and ditched. 1 of the 16 occupants was killed.^[2]
31 October 1972: KA6D Intruder #151809 attached to VA-196 on USS Enterprise stalled and crashed on take-off into Subic Bay, both crew members killed.
2 November 1978: Lockheed S-3A 160590 crashed at night on Mount Slanging, two miles southwest of the Cubi Point Naval Air Station, having had taken off from the Cubi airfield seven minutes before on a training flight.^[3]
26 June 1979: P-3B #154596 lost power to 2 engines after takeoff and crashed while attempting to return to land. 5 of the 15 occupants were killed.^[4]
29 January 1989: A-6E Intruder BuNo. 162189/'NF 502' of VA-115 'Eagles' based aboard the USS Midway (CV-41). Substantially damaged January 29, 1989 at NAS Cubi Point, Subic Bay, Philippines. A Fire erupted on the right side of the aircraft during refuelling in the NAS Cubi Point fuel pits ["hot-pits"]. Fuel nozzle didn't seal correctly. It was attached, but when they pressurized it, jet fuel went down the intake. (Unlike EA-6B Prowlers, the pilot of A-6E Intruders kept both engines turning during refuelling). Of the two crew, the pilot, Lt Commander Dan “Aldo” Wendling egressed on ground. The Bombardier/Navigator, Jay "Tank" Cook ejected but did not survive due to tailwinds and being out of the seat operating envelope. Reference: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/186149

Related Research Articles

The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner; it is easily distinguished from the Electra by its distinctive tail stinger or "MAD" boom, used for the magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) of submarines.

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) is a naval air station of the United States Navy located on two pieces of land near Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington.

Naval Air Station Alameda was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.

Subic Bay International Airport serves as a secondary and diversion airport for Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila and Clark International Airport in Pampanga. It also serves the immediate area of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, the provinces of Bataan and Zambales, and the general area of Olongapo in the Philippines.

Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana or NAS Oceana is a United States Navy Naval Air Station located in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Naval Air Station Barbers Point, on O'ahu, home to John Rodgers Field, is a former United States Navy airfield closed in 1999, and renamed Kalaeloa Airport. Parts of the former air station serve as a film and television studio for the Hawaii State Film Office.

The Port of Subic Bay is in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, the former U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay, on Subic Bay in the Philippines. It is one of the busiest, largest, historical and most important of ports in the Philippines. The Port is operated and managed by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

Naval Station Sangley Point was a communication and hospital facility of the United States Navy which occupied the northern portion of the Cavite City peninsula and is surrounded by Manila Bay, approximately eight miles southwest of Manila, the Philippines. The station was a part of the Cavite Navy Yard across the peninsula. The naval station had a runway that was built after World War II, which was used by U.S. Navy Lockheed P-2 Neptune, Lockheed P-3 Orion, and Martin P4M Mercator maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. An adjacent seaplane runway, ramp area and seaplane tender berths also supported Martin P5M Marlin maritime patrol aircraft until that type's retirement from active naval service in the late 1960s. NAS Sangley Point/NAVSTA Sangley Point was also used extensively during the Vietnam War, primarily for U.S. Navy patrol squadrons forward deployed from the United States on six-month rotations. The naval station was turned over to the Philippine government in 1971. It is now operated by the Philippine Air Force and Philippine Navy.

Patrol Squadron Four (VP-4) is a U.S. Navy land-based patrol squadron based at the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor, Washington, which is tasked to undertake maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions flying the Boeing P-8 Poseidon.

Patrol Squadron 9 (VP-9) is a U.S. Navy patrol squadron with its homeport located at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. As of 2018, VP-9 is part of Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing Ten, Commander, Naval Air Forces, Pacific.

Naval Base Subic Bay was a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the Spanish Navy and subsequently the United States Navy located in Zambales, Philippines. The base was 262 square miles, about the size of Singapore. The Navy Exchange had the largest volume of sales of any exchange in the world, and the Naval Supply Depot handled the largest volume of fuel oil of any navy facility in the world. The naval base was the largest overseas military installation of the United States Armed Forces, after Clark Air Base in Angeles City was closed in 1991. Following its closure in 1992, it was transformed into the Subic Bay Freeport Zone by the Philippine government.

Ernest Eugene (Gene) Tissot Jr. was a United States Navy Rear Admiral and naval aviator who was highly decorated for his actions during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was born in Upland, California, and entered the Navy as a Naval Aviation Cadet in June 1945 and learned to fly in the Stearman N2S biplane at the Naval Air Station Livermore in August 1946. He was designated a Naval Aviator in June 1948 and commissioned as an Ensign that December. He was advanced in rank to Captain in January 1969 and his selection for the rank of Rear Admiral was approved by the President in March 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VP-17</span> Military unit

VP-17, nicknamed the White Lightnings, was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VP-65</span> Military unit

VP-65, nicknamed the Tridents, was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy Reserve. The squadron was established on 16 November 1970 at NAS Los Alamitos, California, and moved on 6 January 1971 to NAS Point Mugu. It was disestablished on 4 March 2006, after 35 years of service. Elements of the squadron made 22 major overseas deployments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VP-66</span> Patrol squadron of the U.S. Navy Reserve

VP-66 was a patrol squadron of the U.S. Navy Reserve. The squadron was established on 1 November 1970 at NAS Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, where it was based for the rest of its life. It was disestablished on 31 March 2006, after 25 years of service. The squadron's nicknames were the Flying Sixes from 1971 to 1974, the Dicemen from 1975 to 1980, and the Liberty Bells from 1981 onward. Elements of the squadron made 19 major overseas deployments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VP-67</span> Military unit

VP-67 was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy Reserve. The squadron was established on 1 November 1970 at NAS Memphis, Tennessee, where it was based for its entire life. It was disestablished on 30 September 1994, after 24 years of service. The squadron's nickname was the Golden Hawks, also unofficially called the Thunder Chickens. Elements of the squadron made 23 major overseas deployments.

VP-6 was a long-lived Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy, nicknamed the Blue Sharks. Originally established as Bombing Squadron VB-146 on 15 July 1943, it was redesignated Patrol Bombing Squadron VPB-146 on 1 October 1944, redesignated VP-146 on 15 May 1946, redesignated Medium Patrol Squadron (Landplane) VP-ML-6 on 15 November 1946, redesignated VP-6 on 1 September 1948 and disestablished on 31 May 1993. It was the third squadron to be designated VP-6, the first VP-6 was disestablished on 3 May 1926 and the second VP-6 was disestablished on 20 June 1945.

VP-48 was a long-lived Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy, nicknamed the Boomerangers from 1975 to 1980, and the Boomers from 1981 to 1991. It was established as Reserve Patrol Squadron VP-905 in May 1946, redesignated Heavy Patrol Squadron (Landplane) VP-HL-51 on 15 November 1946, redesignated VP-731 in February 1950, redesignated VP-48 on 4 February 1953 and disestablished on 23 May 1991. It was the second squadron to be designated VP-48, the first VP-48 was disestablished on 31 December 1949.

Uninhabited Patrol Squadron 19 (VUP-19) is an unmanned patrol squadron of the United States Navy, nicknamed the "Big Red" and established on 1 October 2013.

Naval Construction Battalion 5 was commissioned on May 25, 1942 at Camp Allen Va. The battalion went to Port Hueneme and shipped out for the first of two deployments in the Pacific. When the war ended CB 5 was decommissioned in the Philippines. On July 10, 1951 the Battalion was re-commissioned as a MCB and remains an active unit today.

References

Anderson, Gerald R. (1991). Subic Bay: From Magellan to Mt. Pinatubo : the history of the U.S. Naval Station, Subic Bay. OCLC 28510141.

↑ "Cubi Bar Cafe".
↑ "Lockheed P-3A Orion 152151". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
↑ "Accident Lockheed S-3A Viking 160590, 02 Nov 1978".
↑ "Lockheed P-3B Orion 154596". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 18 January 2018.

External links

Media related to Naval Air Station Cubi Point at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Cubi Bar Cafe".

[2] "Lockheed P-3A Orion 152151". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 18 January 2018.

[3] "Accident Lockheed S-3A Viking 160590, 02 Nov 1978".

[4] "Lockheed P-3B Orion 154596". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 18 January 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]