The air base was built as
Nichols Field in 1919 by the United States during the
insular government 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 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 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. Photos of this "death van" were subsequently posted on the blog site of the Filipino investigative journalist, Raissa Robles, who reported the discovery. ==Gallery==