Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, known simply as Villamor Air Base , is the headquarters of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and shares

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s with

Ninoy Aquino International Airport Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA ; ; ), also known as Manila International Airport (MIA), is the main international airport serving Metro Manila in the Philippines. Located between the cities of Pasay and Parañaque, about south of ...

(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 President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

vice president of the Philippines The vice president of the Philippines (, also referred to as ) is the second-highest official in the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the first in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is directly elect ...

when departing for foreign or domestic trips. Also, foreign dignitaries visiting Manila would usually arrive at the air base. The base is named after Filipino

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

pilot Jesús A. Villamor.

History

The air base was built as Nichols Field in 1919 by the United States during the

insular government The Philippine Insular GovernmentThis form of the name appeared in the titles of US Supreme Court cases, but was otherwise rarely used. See Costas v. Government of the Philippine Islands, 221 U.S. 623, 1911. The Administrative Code of the Phil ...

era 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 The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

during their occupation of the Philippines from December 1941 to January 1945.

Nichols Air Base

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 Benigno "Ninoy" Simeón Aquino Jr., (, ; November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac (1963–1967). Aquino was the husban ...

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 ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, known on-air as ABS-CBN News (formerly known as ''ABS-CBN News and Public Affairs''), is the news and current affairs division of the Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation. The division is the coun ...

. Photos of this "death van" were subsequently posted on the blog site of the Filipino investigative journalist, Raissa Robles, who reported the discovery.

Gallery

References

{{Military Bases of the Philippines Military facilities in Metro Manila Air force installations of the Philippines Buildings and structures in Pasay