1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
Cope Thunder Wind Tunnel. As Douglas settled
in as the new commander, the strongest earthquake
to hit the Philippines in 14 years shook the
island of Luzon on 16 July. It measured 7.7 on the
Richter scale and was classified as a major earthquake.
The town of Cabanatuan, located 47 miles
northeast of Clark AB, was at the earthquake’s
epicenter. Lasting only two minutes, the quake’s
severity proved disastrous to most areas within
80 miles. The death toll was in the thousands,
with Baguio City being one of the hardest hit.
Landslides blocked the roads leading to Baguio,
and poor visibility and damage to the city’s
Loakan Airport initially closed the runway to all
air traffic (fig. 42). 4
At the 1st SOS five crews were immediately
put into crew rest, and two Combat Talons were
prepared to respond to the disaster. All five
crews were ready for employment by 0700 local
on 17 July. The initial tasking for the squadron
included a massive airlift of relief supplies into
the hardest hit areas. Since Loakan Airport was
still closed, all supplies had to be flown into San
Fernando Airport located at Wallace Air Station.
From Wallace Air Station, helicopters shuttled
the cargo 15 minutes to Camp John Hay. The first
Talon airlifted medical technicians, cots, rations,
Philippines
meals ready to eat (MRE), blankets, and rain
gear. On the return leg, 55 people were evacuated
to Clark AB. 5
As relief supplies were moved into the disaster
area, a fuel crisis developed that threatened to
shut down relief efforts. Consequently, the 1st
SOS was tasked to establish a FARP in support of
the operation. On Wednesday, 18 July, an MC-
130E established the FARP operation at San Fernando
Airport. Talon crews pumped more than
23,900 pounds of fuel to relief aircraft during the
first day of operation. The ramp at the small and
usually quiet San Fernando Airport was a virtual
beehive of activity throughout the early days of
the disaster, with two Combat Talons, one HC-
130, multiple HH-3 helicopters, and scores of
Philippine air force fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft
transiting the ramp. At its peak the small ramp
had five C-130s and 25 other fixed- and rotarywing
aircraft on the ground at one time. Throughout
the first week of operations, the 1st SOS MC-
130Es and the 17th SOS HC-130P/Ns (which
were stationed at Kadena AB, Okinawa) continued
to shuttle fuel to San Fernando and to pump
it to both US Marine and Philippine air force helicopters.
In a single day, 111,450 pounds of fuel
were delivered. 6
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Figure 42. Map of the Philippine Islands (Source: AU Library, Maps and Charts Division,
Maxwell AFB, Ala.)
338