- Two North American A-27s of the 17th Pursuit Squadron at Nichols Field in 1941.
- Façade of the Philippine Air Force Aerospace Museum
Villamor Air Base | |
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Pasay City, Philippines | |
522nd Logistics Group Headquarters Building | |
Coordinates | 14°30′31″N121°01′10″E / 14.50861°N 121.01944°E |
Type | airbase |
Site information | |
Owner | ![]() |
Controlled by | Philippine Air Force |
Condition | Active, as of 2016 |
Site history | |
Built | 1919 |
Built by | ![]() |
In use | 1919–present |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Events |
Villamor Air Base | |||||||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||||||
Airport type | Public/Military | ||||||||||||||
Operator | Philippine Air Force | ||||||||||||||
Serves | Manila | ||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 23 m / 75 ft | ||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 14°30′31″N121°01′10″E / 14.50861°N 121.01944°E | ||||||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, known simply as Villamor Air Base( IATA : MNL, ICAO : RPLL), is the headquarters of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and shares runways with Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). It was formerly known as Nichols Field or Nichols Air Base. 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. [1] Also, foreign dignitaries visiting Manila would usually arrive at the air base.
The base is named after Filipino World War II pilot Jesús A. Villamor.
Nichols Field was built in 1919 by the United States during the insular government and in 1941 was used as an airfield by the United States Army Air Forces in the South West Pacific Theatre. The field was the location of the U.S. Far East Air Force's U.S. 20th Air Base Group. Also, based at the field was Troop F of the U.S. 26th Cavalry Regiment.
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.
Designated Nichols Air Base after Philippine independence, in 1997, the base was reduced to make way for construction of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 and Newport City.
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). This was reported only two years later by ABS-CBN News. [2] Photos of this "death van" were subsequently posted on the blog site of the Filipino investigative journalist, Raissa Robles, who reported the discovery. [3]
The Philippine Army Air Corps was created in 1935 as the air component of the Philippine Army. It was the predecessor of the Philippine Air Force, created in 1947.
Nichols Field was a U.S. military airfield located south of Manila in Pasay and Parañaque, Metro Manila, Luzon, the Philippines. The complex is located at Andrews Avenue by the north, Domestic Road by the west, NAIA Road and Ninoy Aquino Avenue by the southwest, Multinational Avenue by the south, South Luzon Expressway and the Metro Manila Skyway by the east, and Sales Street by the northeast.
Ninoy Aquino International Airport, originally known as Manila International Airport (MIA), is the main international airport serving the Manila metropolitan area in the Philippines. Located between the cities of Pasay and Parañaque, about 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) south of Manila proper and southwest of Makati, it is the main gateway for travelers to the Philippines and serves as a hub for PAL Express, and Philippine Airlines. It is also the main operating base for AirSWIFT, Cebgo, Cebu Pacific, and Philippines AirAsia.
Jesús Antonio Villamor was a Filipino-American pilot, spy, and Medal of Valor awardee who fought the Japanese in World War II.
The Shrine of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus is a Roman Catholic church located in Pasay, Philippines, across the main entrance of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3. Dedicated to Saint Thérèse de Lisieux, the church is classified as a diocesan shrine governed by the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines.
The most serious attempted coup d'état against the government of Philippine President Corazon Aquino was staged beginning December 1, 1989, by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines belonging to the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) and soldiers loyal to former President Ferdinand Marcos. Metro Manila was shaken by this Christmas-time coup, which almost seized Malacañang Palace. It was completely defeated by the Philippine government by December 9, 1989.
Nichols station is a railway station located on the South Main Line in Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines. It derives its name from one of the area's popular nicknames, Nichols, which is also the former name of Villamor Air Base. It was opened for revenue service on March 25, 2010.
"Makinilya" is the 21st episode of the 18th season of the Filipino drama anthology series Maalaala Mo Kaya (MMK), and is the second of two parts of "The Ninoy & Cory Aquino Story". Written by Joan Habana and directed by Jeffrey Jeturian, it first aired on ABS-CBN in the Philippines on January 30, 2010. To execute the project, ABS-CBN teamed with Swatch and collaborated with Jaime Zobel de Ayala and the Ninoy & Cory Aquino Foundation.
Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., a former Philippine senator, was assassinated on Sunday, August 21, 1983, on the tarmac of Manila International Airport. A longtime political opponent of President Ferdinand Marcos, Aquino had just landed in his home country after three years of self-imposed exile in the United States when he was shot in the head while being escorted from an aircraft to a vehicle that was waiting to transport him to prison. Also killed was Rolando Galman, who was falsely accused of Aquino's murder.
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway (NAIAX), signed as E6 of the Philippine expressway network, is an 11.6-kilometer (7.2 mi) elevated highway in Metro Manila, Philippines, which links the Skyway to Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Entertainment City. Traversing the cities of Taguig, Pasay, and Parañaque, the NAIAX runs along Andrews Avenue, Electrical Road, and NAIA Road connecting the Skyway to Ninoy Aquino Avenue, Macapagal Boulevard, New Seaside Drive and the Manila–Cavite Expressway.
Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aguirre Aquino IV is a Filipino politician and social entrepreneur who served as a Senator of the Philippines from 2013 to 2019. He is a member of the prominent Aquino family in the Philippines.
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Initially formed as part of the Philippine Army, the PAF is responsible for both defending the Philippine airspace, and conducting aerial operations throughout the Philippines, such as close air support operations, combat air patrols, aerial reconnaissance missions, airlift operations, helicopter tactical operations and aerial humanitarian operations. The PAF is headquartered at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay, and is headed by the Chief of the Air Force, who also serves as the branch's highest-ranking military officer.
The Last Journey of Ninoy is a 2009 Philippine documentary film directed by Jun Reyes that premiered on August 21, 2009, in commemoration of Ninoy Aquino Day and on August 23 at ABS-CBN. The film includes the final interview given by Aquino's wife who then became the first woman to Philippine presidency, Corazon Aquino. It was produced by Unitel Productions, Inc. and the Benigno Aquino Jr. Foundation.
Andrews Avenue is a major east-west thoroughfare in Metro Manila, Philippines that functions as a metropolitan linkage between Pasay and Taguig. It runs underneath the NAIA Expressway almost parallel to Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) to the north connecting Roxas Boulevard and Domestic Road near Bay City with South Luzon Expressway near Newport City. It has an arterial extension continuing 3.4 kilometers (2.1 mi) northeast to 5th Avenue and McKinley Road in Bonifacio Global City known as Lawton Avenue.
Lawton Avenue, also known as the Fort Bonifacio–Nichols Field Road and Nichols Field Road, is the main road in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines. It follows a part of the alignment of the old Nichols route running roughly southwest to northeast from Sales Interchange to 5th Avenue and the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. It was named after Henry Ware Lawton, a US Army general killed during the Philippine–American War.
Edwin Andrews Air Base is located in Zamboanga, Philippines. The base operates through Runway 09/27, which has a length of 2,611 m (8,566 ft), along with the Zamboanga International Airport and conducts air operations against insurgents like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Pope Francis made a pastoral and state visit to the Philippines from January 15 to 19, 2015. He was the third pontiff to visit the Philippines after Paul VI in 1970 and John Paul II in 1981 and 1995, and officially the first papal visit in the 21st century and 3rd millennium after the title was originally scheduled for World Meeting of Families in 2003 but postponed due to John Paul II was unable to attend because of the progression of his Parkinson's disease. Besides Manila, Francis visited Tacloban and Palo, Leyte, to encourage the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) and Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby). The Filipinos nicknamed Francis Lolo Kiko as a term of endearment, which he commended. Around 6–7 million attended Francis' final Papal Mass at Luneta, surpassing the crowd at World Youth Day 1995 in the same venue and making it the largest papal crowd in history. The theme of Francis' 2015 visit was "Mercy and Compassion".
Jose Protacio Cangco Gozar was a Filipino military aviator and a flight officer of the Philippine Army Air Corps, who was awarded at the outbreak of World War II the Distinguished Service Cross.
On July 4, 2021, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) crashed after an attempted landing at Jolo Airport in Sulu, Philippines. With 53 deaths, of which 50 people were on the aircraft and 3 on the ground, the incident is the deadliest aviation accident in Philippine military history, the fourth deadliest on Philippine soil, and the second deadliest to occur in 2021, behind Sriwijaya Air Flight 182.