The Crash of a U.S. Navy Plane at Lipa Airfield in November 1944

By late October 1944, Allied forces led by the United States landed on the beaches of Leyte in what was seen as the first step towards the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation. This landing was followed by intense jungle fighting involving mainly troops of the 11^th Airborne Division to rid the island of its Japanese presence.

By the following month, Allied military planners had their eyes firmly set on the invasion of Luzon in January of 1945. Among the top priorities was the setting up of a military base in the town of San Jose in southern Mindoro.

This base would be used to stock up supplies that would be necessary for the invasion of Luzon. Fighter planes and torpedo bombers could also be launched from this base to attack Japanese military positions on Luzon prior to the invasion.

But before this base could be completed, carrier-based United States Navy (USN) planes had already begun conducting raids on Japanese installations on the island of Luzon, particularly those where aircraft where being kept.

The cratered runway of Lipa Airfield after air attacks conducted in February 1945.

One such raid was conducted on the 19^th of November by 8 fighter aircraft launched from the light carrier USS Cabot¹, at that time sailing for the Philippines from the Ulithi Atoll east of the country as part of the USN’s Task Group 38.2².

The general mission given to the Cabot and its aircraft was “to conduct strikes against naval vessels, shipping, and designated enemy aircraft and airfields in the southern Luzon area; and to engage and destroy the Japanese fleet” if the opportunity arose³.

The 8 aircraft from the Cabot initially linked up with 12 other aircraft from another carrier, the USS Hancock. Bad weather prevented the planes from swooping down on the Japanese-held Nichols Field in Pasay and the Nielson Field in Makati.

The planes, therefore, left their counterparts from the USS Hancock and flew south to join up with and act as cover for 12 fighter aircraft and 9 torpedo bombers that had been launched also from the USS Cabot to attack the West Lipa Airfield, the main airfield held by the Japanese in the then-town of Lipa.

The attack on this airfield “immediately cratered the center of the concrete runway with two 2,000-pound bombs.” Also destroyed on the ground were Japanese aircraft: 1 Kate⁴, 1 Jill⁵, 1 Sally⁶, and several other aircraft.

In all, an estimated 35 Japanese aircraft were reported to have been destroyed at West Lipa Airfield, “some of which appeared to have been previously damaged.” From Lipa, the group of aircraft made the short haul to Malvar Airfield where no viable targets were observed but where two 500-pound bombs were dropped on the administration building.

Flying further south to what is now Batangas City, the planes attacked the Batangas Airfield, where they destroyed 2 single-engine planes, one Zeke⁷, one Val⁸, and an unidentified single-engine plane.

One incident, however, cast a cloud on what was otherwise a successful mission. One of the torpedo bombers was observed to have crashed and burned on the already cratered runway at the West Lipa Airfield.

The cause of the crash, however, was undetermined and something of a puzzle to the pilots of the other planes, since “the plane was not in a steep dive and there was no AA (anti-aircraft fire) at the time.”

Presumed dead from the crash were its pilot, a Lt. John H. Ballantine; and his two crewmen, AOM2c W.K. Biye and ARM3c W. J. Hesse.