Editing Del Monte Airfield (section)

===Battle of the Philippines===
On 8 December, the initial Japanese attack on Clark Field caught most of the remainder of the 19th Bombardment Group on the ground. The bomber and fighter sweeps on the field destroyed most of the aircraft.  In the ensuing [[Battle of the Philippines (1942)]] and after the destruction of Clark and [[Nichols Field]]s on Luzon in the first days of the war, the Japanese flew extensive reconnaissance missions to discover the remaining American aircraft in the Philippines. They had been unable to find the Del Monte field, but it was only a question of time before this last haven would be discovered and destroyed as were the airfields on Luzon. Moreover, it was becoming increasingly difficult to service the B-17s with the inadequate facilities at Del Monte. There were no spare parts, engines, or propellers for the B-17s in the Philippines; damaged B-17s had to be cannibalized to keep the bombers flying. The only tools were those in the possession of the crews. The men who worked on the planes all night often got no rest the next day because of air alerts. On some days the heavy bombers had to remain aloft during the daylight hours to avoid destruction on the ground. They dodged back and forth between Mindanao and Luzon, playing a game of hide-and-seek that wore out men as well as planes.

B-17s flying from Del Monte Airfield became the first United States aircraft to engage in offensive action against the Japanese. On December 14, 1941, the American Army Air Forces reacted to the Japanese invasion of the Philippines at [[Legaspi, Luzon]] by sending 3 of a group of 6 Del Monte-based B-17s, ordered to attack the landing force. They attacked a Japanese minesweeper and a transport, thought to be a destroyer, with meager results, and 9 naval aircraft based on the Legaspi strip. The unescorted bombers were no match for the Japanese fighters and soon beat a hasty retreat. Only one of the B-17s was able to make its way back to Del Monte; the others had to crash-land short of their base. The Japanese lost at most 4 fighters.

Under these conditions, it was evident that the remaining heavy bombers could not operate efficiently in the Philippines. [[Lewis H. Brereton|General Brereton]] therefore requested authority on December 15 to move the B-17s to [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]] in northwest [[Australia]], 1,500 miles away, where they could be based safely and serviced properly. His intention was to operate from fields near Darwin, using Del Monte as an advance base from which to strike enemy targets in the Philippines. The planes were immediately prepared for the long flight southward, and on December 15 the first group of B-17s left Del Monte airfield. By the following evening ten of the bombers had reached [[Batchelor Field]] outside Darwin. They had left Mindanao none too soon, as the complex of airfields was discovered by the Japanese on December 18, 1941 and attacked the following day by Japanese planes based on the carrier ''Ryujo''.

On December 22, 1941, 9 B-17's from [[Batchelor Field]] near [[Darwin, Northern Territory]], [[Australia]], attacked shipping in Davao Bay, Mindanao Island and landed at Del Monte. The next day 4 B-17s took off from Del Monte after midnight and bombed enemy shipping in [[Lingayen Gulf]]. On the 24th, 3 B-17's based at Del Monte bombed the airfield and shipping at [[Davao City|Davao]] on the southeast coast of Mindanao before flying to Australia.

On March 16, 1942, Del Monte was later used to evacuate [[General MacArthur]], his family, and senior staff from the Philippines, leaving before midnight. The evacuation party had arrived by [[PT boat]] from [[Corregidor]] and on March 16, four [[B-17 Flying Fortress]]es from Australia flew up to Del Monte: B-17E 41-2408, B-17E 41-2429, B-17E 41-2434 and B-17E 41-2447 and evacuated them to Batchelor Field, arriving on the 17th.

On Thursday, March 26, 1942, Del Monte was again used to evacuate Philippine President, Manuel Quezon, his family, doctors, chaplain, and senior staff.  Two B-17's had flown up from Australia and arrived at 8:45pm and departed again at 11pm<ref>From the [http://PhilippineDiaryProject.wordpress.com/tag/manuel-l-quezon-jr/ Diary of Manuel L. Quezon, Jr]., a passenger aboard aircraft "N-1", piloted by Ted S. Faulkner and Lt William H Campbell</ref> for Australia.

On April 8, 1942, the air echelons of the [[24th Pursuit Group]] along with the remaining Army Air Corps flying operations in the Philippines were withdrawn from [[Luzon]] and transferred to Del Monte with whatever aircraft were left to carry on the fight.

In April 1942, a group of 7 B-25s and 3 B-17s from Australia returned to Del Monte for the [[Ralph Royce#Special mission in the Philippines|Royce Mission]], to attack the Japanese on three bombing missions. On April 12, B-25s hit the harbor and shipping at Cebu, Cebu Island while B-17s carried out single-bomber strikes against [[Cebu]] harbor and [[Nichols Field]] on Luzon. On 13 April B-25s hit targets in the Philippines for the second consecutive day. The B-25s took off just after midnight and bombed shipping at Cebu and installations at Davao on Mindanao. Later in the day the B-25s again attacked Davao, bombing the dock area.

The advancing Japanese forced their return to Australia. In addition to the raids, they brought out a number of important military and diplomatic personnel who had gathered at Del Monte to await evacuation. The last of the 24th Pursuit Group's aircraft were captured or destroyed by enemy forces on or about May 1, 1942 when the airfield was abandoned by the United States, leaving its facilities to the Japanese invaders.