6th Pursuit Squadron
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The following are excerpts from a contemporary news item about the heroic deeds of the pilots of the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the Philippine Army Air Corps during World War II.
The time: 15 minutes before 12 high noon, the date: Dec. 12, 1941, the place: Batangas.
Despite the treacherous attacks carried out by the Japanese war planes, one outfit remained intact. This was the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the Philippine Army Air Corps based in Batangas Field. The young men who made up this squadron were Capt. Jesus Villamor, Lt. Cesar Basa, Lt. Godofredo Juliano, Lt. Geronimo Aclan, Lt. Manuel Conde, Lt. Antonio Mondigo and many others. The Filipino pilots manned the single engine P-26s of the 1930 vintage. These planes could fly 150 mph with a combat ceiling of 10,000 feet, armed with two .30 caliber machine guns mounted directly behind the propeller. Ranged against them were the sleek Japanese Zeroes capable of negotiating speed of 250 mph and armed with 20 mm cannons and several machine guns.
Undaunted by the odds, the 6th Pursuit Squadron fought it out until it was decimated by the ever increasing enemy planes. Lt. Basa was killed in that dog fight. The other pilots survived to fight another dog fight over Quezon City before their remaining planes were ordered destroyed to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. Today, the main Philippine Air Force Base in Manila has been named in honor of Col. Villamor. Another PAF airbase in Pampanga is named after Lt. Basa.
The 6th Pursuit squadron survives today as the 6th tactical fighter squadron of the Philippine Air Force. They are currently based in Basa Airbase and just recently mothballed their F 5A's
