Naval Air Station Cubi Point

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 Republic of the Philippines.BackgroundDuring 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 3mi 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 and in 1951, the Seabees began the first phase of the project. 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.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 45ft of earth.