1945
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Location
Pronounced
'Ma-ngal-dan'. Located north of the town of Magaldan, near Lingayen Gulf, to the east of Dagupan.
Construction
Built after the American liberation in early January 1945. Two
parallel runways were built, running east to west parallel and south
of the road running thru Mangaldan. The base call sign was "Honey".
It based both US Army Air Force and USMC aircraft. At its height, the
strip included Army A-20s, B-24s P-51s, P-47s, C-47s,
and USMC and Navy PBYs and SBDs.
Units Based At Mangaldan
HQ 35th FG Morotai January 20, 1945 - ?
35th FG, 39th FS (P-47, P-51) Morotai Jan 22 -
April 10, 1945 Lingayen
HQ 3rd Air Commando
Group (C-47) - Leyte Jan
26 - April 30, 45 Laoag
3rd Air Group, 3rd FS & 4th FS (P-51) Leyte Jan
26 - April 15, 45 Laoag
3rd Air Group, 160th Liaison Squadrons (L-5) Leyte Jan
31, 1945
3rd Air Group, 157th, 159th Liaison Squadrons (L-5) Leyte Jan
31, 1945
312th
BG, 386th BS (A-20) Tanauan Feb
10 - April 16, 45 Floridablanca
312th
BG, 387th BS (A-20) Tanauan Feb
10 - April 16, 45 Floridablanca
312th
BG, 388th BS (A-20) San
Jose Feb 11 - April 20, 45
Floridablanca
312th
BG, 389th BS (A-20) San
Jose Feb 11 - April 20, 45
Floridablanca
35th FG, 41st FS (P-47, P-51) Wama January 21 - April 16, 45 Lingayen
35th FG, 40st FS (P-47, P-51) from Wama January 45
HQ 58th FG - from San
Jose April
5, 1945 - ?
58th FG 310th FS (P-47) from San
Jose April 6 -
April 18, 1945 to Porac
58th FG 311th FS (P-47) from San
Jose April 7 - April 17, 1945 to Porac
58th FG 68th FS (P-47) from San
Jose April 7 - April 17, 1945 to Porac
USMC Units Based at Lingayen
MAG-32
MAG-24
USN Air Wing 17
VSMB 244 (SBD)
Japanese Air Raids Against Mangaldan
January 29, 1945 - A solitary plane dropped
four bombs onto the runway.
March 1, 1945 - 18 bombers drop 9 tons of bombs, starting six fires,
and a large explosion. Damage was considerable, but not specifically
assessed.
March
2, 1945 - In the early morning hours, a raid by high altitude G4M
Betty and several low altitude Bettys
dropping
AP and
GP bombs
onto the base. The Marine area was mainly hit, with 72 casualties
and 4 killed. Two Marine SBDs were damaged.
Gregoia "George" A. Soriano adds:
"I was houseboy for pilots of the 41st Fighter Squadron at Mangaldan. I remember Captain Beamer, and Kay. They were all very nice to me."
Jorge Torralba adds:
"It was an impromptu airbase with steel matting as the 'an reinforcement. It houses Mustang P-51 fighter planes, double-bodied P-38 fighter planes, B-29 bombers and Navy bombers. Pilots and maintenance crews littered the surrounding fields with their tents and quarters. I applied as room orderly in the pilot's section. During their flying missions, I took care of their Iaundry to be distributed to the laundry women and to keep the camp in order. I recieved a salary of P4.00 a day."
Travis Smith, 41st FS P-51 pilot recalls:
"I was only at Mangaldan a few weeks, before moving to Lingayen but took photos at Mangaldan, of out tent and people."
Joe Potts, 40th Fighter Squadron recalls:
"Magaldan was wide enough to take off as an entire flight. When the wet season came, the rice paddies would flood and we would have to taxi around puddles on the strip!"
Post War
Disused since the war, the town
of Mangaldan has absorbed traces of the airbase, the
runway area has reverted to rice paddy planting area
and irrigated pools for fish farms and open space. In
past decades farmers reported finding bullets and other
remains, but not many traces of the airbase remain today.
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