View source for Nielson Field

{{Short description|Former military and civilian airfield in Makati, Philippines}}
{{Distinguish|Nelson Field}}
{{Use Philippine English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name=Nielson Field
| ensign=Fifth Air Force - Emblem (World War II).svg
| ensign_size=60px
| partof = [[Fifth Air Force]]
| location=[[Makati]], [[Philippines]]
| image=File:Landing Fields - Philippines - Rizal - NARA - 68161120.jpg
| image_size = 280
| caption=Aerial view of Nielson Airport in 1937
| pushpin_map= Philippines
| pushpin_label=Nielson Field
| pushpin_mapsize=200
| pushpin_map_caption=Nielson Field, Philippines
| coordinates={{Coord|14|33|02.06|N|121|01|46.08|E|display=inline,title}}
| type=Military airfield
| code= 
| ownership= 
| controlledby=[[United States Army Air Forces]]
| condition= 
| built=1937
| builder= 
| used= 1937–1948
| materials= 
| demolished= 
| battles= 
| events= 
| past_commanders= 
| garrison= 
| occupants= 
}}

'''Nielson Field''' ([[Luzon]], the [[Philippines]]) was the location of the [[Far East Air Force (United States)|Far East Air Force]] headquarters of the [[United States Army]] in the [[Philippines]]. Most of the aircraft of the FEAF were based at either [[Clark Field]] or [[Nichols Field]]. The cultural site was an ''Honourable Mention'' in the 2001 [[UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards]].<ref>{{Cite web| title=Project profiles for 2001 UNESCO Heritage Award winners | url=https://bangkok.unesco.org/sites/default/files/assets/article/Asia-Pacific%20Heritage%20Awards/files/2001-winners.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705043238/https://bangkok.unesco.org/sites/default/files/assets/article/Asia-Pacific%20Heritage%20Awards/files/2001-winners.pdf | archive-date=2018-07-05}}</ref>

== Laurie Reuben Nielson ==
Laurie Reuben Nielson was one of the many foreigners attracted by the business opportunities in the Philippines and moved to the country before [[World War II]]. Born in [[New Zealand]], Nielson and his American wife, Annette, arrived in Manila in the early-to-mid-1930s.  He established himself in local business, setting up his own firm, L. R. Nielson & Company, and making inroads in the securities and stock brokerage business, importing, and mining.  Nielson also sat on the board of [[The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation]] branch in Manila.

Nielson was an avid aviation enthusiast; with this, he became involved in a project to build an aviation school and airport in Manila.  It was an ideal time for pursuing the project because there was a real need for an airport to support the increased economic activity in the country, especially in the mining industry, at the same time, the [[Manuel L. Quezon|Quezon government]] was encouraging infrastructure projects. Nielson convinced several other Manila-based foreign investors to join him in the project and construction of the airport proceeded after the group leased {{convert|42|ha}} of land in Makati from [[Ayala Corporation|Ayala y Compañía]].  When it was inaugurated in July 1937, the Nielson Airport was being touted as the biggest and best-equipped in Asia.

After the outbreak of the war and the [[History of Manila#World War II and Japanese occupation|invasion of Manila]] by Japanese forces in 1942, Nielson and his family were detained by the Japanese authorities. Nielson's wife and two sons were brought to the internment camp at the [[University of Santo Tomas]]. Nielson, because he was [[United Kingdom|British]], was taken for internment in [[British Hong Kong]] (present-day [[Hong Kong]]). Nielson was never seen or heard from again.

By the time the Philippines was liberated from the Japanese, Nielson's businesses and most of his properties were all gone.  After his wife and two sons left the Philippines and returned to the United States for good, Nielson's only remaining legacy to the Philippines was the airport he had built.

== Nielson Airport ==
[[File:NEILSON AIRPIRT TOWER 30s to 40s.jpg|thumb|Nielson Tower]]
[[File:1996-NHI-Nielson Tower.png|thumb|The plaque at the entrance to Nielson Tower]]
[[File:Nielson.jpg|thumb|Nielson Field in flames after a Japanese attack on December 10, 1941]]
The property on which the airport stood was part of the Hacienda [[San Pedro de Macati]] owned by the [[Zobel de Ayala family|Zóbel de Ayala family]], then in the province of [[Rizal (province)|Rizal]]. The hacienda encompassed most of what is now the city of [[Makati]]. When [[Enrique Zóbel de Ayala]], then senior managing partner at Ayala y Compañía (present-day [[Ayala Corporation]]) and a special aide to President [[Manuel L. Quezon]], found out about the Nielson group's proposal to the government to build an airport on a turnkey basis, he immediately offered a portion of the hacienda as a possible site for the facility. It was an ideal location for the airport because Makati was then just a sparsely populated town adjacent to Manila. The site was located on a hard tract of land jutting from rice fields, clearly visible from the air, allowing clear approaches from all sides.

The Nielson Airport became the base of the American Far Eastern School of Aviation. More importantly, with the introduction of commercial air services at the airport, it became the primary gateway between Manila and the rest of the country and, later, between the Philippines and the world.  The [[Philippine Aerial Taxi Company]] (PATCO), the first airline company in the Philippines, and the [[Iloilo-Negros Air Express Company]], the first Filipino-owned commercial passenger airline, started operating from the Nielson Airport. When [[Philippine Air Lines]] was established, its very first flight took off in March 1941 from the Nielson Airport for [[Baguio]].

As a response to the expansionist policy of [[Japan]], authorities in the Philippines set up the [[Far East Air Force (United States)|Far East Air Force]] (FEAF) headquarters at the Nielson Airport. Commercial flights at the airport were halted in October 1941 and the private carriers were asked to relocate their services to make room for the [[U.S. Army Air Forces]].

When Japanese planes attacked the Philippines on December 8, 1941, the planes were actually spotted by a [[radar]] station in Northern Luzon, which immediately alerted the FEAF headquarters at Nielson.  Unfortunately, by the time FEAF officers were finally able to get through to [[Clark Air Base]] in [[Pampanga]], it was already too late and Japanese bombs were already dropping on Clark. By December 9, Nielson Airport was also under siege.  After the Americans and Filipinos were forced to retreat from the Philippines and the Japanese occupation forces took over, the latter sequestered Nielson and turned the airport's [[Radio masts and towers|radio tower]] and [[Airport terminal|passenger terminal]] into a headquarters. They also modernized the 
runways by enlarging and improving them.  Originally, the black-topped runways were NE/SW 2,850ft x 99ft and NW/SE 2,850ft x 99ft each on a grassy strip 199ft wide, which the Japanese enlarged to 3,960ft x 328ft.  NW/SE and 50 percent of the NE/SW runway were paved with concrete. Other notable improvements included a wide taxiway which encircled the field, [[revetment]]s, and barracks for 600 men.  On the morning of 21 September 1944, this airport and three other Japanese air bases in Greater Manila were attacked by American carrier aircraft.  This caused President Laurel to issue declarations of martial law and of war.  When Manila was liberated, the Americans and the Filipinos were again able to wrest control of the airport from the Japanese, and the American army's Philippine Civil Affairs Unit established a supply depot at the airport. The partially damaged airport, which was renamed Makati Airport, and its facilities were fully restored and commercial air services, including international flights, resumed in 1946.

In 1948, when the airport ceased operations in Makati to relocate to its [[Manila International Airport|present site]] adjacent to [[Nichols Field]] (now [[Villamor Air Base]]) in [[Pasay]], ownership of the airport's permanent facilities reverted to the owner of the land, Ayala y Compañía. Although the runways were eventually converted into roads – the secondary runway (runway 07/25) became [[Paseo de Roxas]] and the primary runway (runway 12/30) became [[Ayala Avenue]] – and other airport structures were sacrificed to give way to the development of the [[Makati Central Business District|Makati business and commercial district]], the owners preserved the airport's passenger terminal and control tower, which came to be known as the Nielson Tower.

== Nielson Tower ==
In the succeeding years, various uses were found for the Nielson Tower, a two-story concrete structure designed to resemble an airplane from a bird's-eye view. At one point, it served as the headquarters of a police detachment. It also housed the offices of the Ayala-owned Integrated Property Management Corporation for several years.

From the late 1970s up to April 1994, a group of Filipino investors leased the tower for a semi-private, first-class club and restaurant, as it is opposite [[The Peninsula Manila]] hotel. In 1996, after almost two years of renovation work, the Nielson Tower became the home of the [[Filipinas Heritage Library]] before its transfer to the [[Ayala Museum]].  In 2014, Nielson Tower became the home of an upscale restaurant and bar called Blackbird, which uses the former controlroom as its upper dining floor.

==Former airlines and destinations==
===Passenger===
<!-- Please use only independent sources. The airport or the airline itself are not independent sources. -->
{{Airport-dest-list
| [[Imperial Japanese Airways]] | [[Songshan Airport|Matsuyama]], [[Haneda Airport|Tokyo]]
| [[KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf]] | [[Kemayoran Airport|Djakarta]]
| [[Pan American World Airways]] | [[Don Mueang International Airport|Bangkok]], [[Dum Dum Airport|Calcutta]], [[Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport|Guam]], [[Kai Tak Airport|Hong Kong]], [[Pearl River (China)|Macau]], [[Henderson Field (Midway)|Midway Island]], [[Daniel K. Inouye International Airport|Honolulu]], [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]], [[Shanghai Longhua Airport|Shanghai–Longhua]], [[Wake Island Airfield|Wake Island]]
| [[Philippine Air Lines|Philippine Aerial Taxi Company]] | [[Loakan Airport|Baguio]], Paracale
| [[Philippine Air Lines]] | [[Loakan Airport|Baguio]], [[Butuan Airport|Butuan]], [[Cairo International Airport|Cairo]], [[Dum Dum Airport|Calcutta]],<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | title=History and Milestones | access-date=January 31, 2020 | archive-date=March 31, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331042455/http://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Lahug Airport|Cebu (Lahug)]], [[Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport|Guam]], [[Kai Tak Airport|Hong Kong]], [[Daniel K. Inouye International Airport|Honolulu]], [[Mandurriao Airport|Iloilo]], [[Jinnah International Airport|Karachi]],<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | title=History and Milestones | access-date=January 31, 2020 | archive-date=March 31, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331042455/http://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Bucholz Army Airfield|Kwajalein]], [[Croydon Airport|London]],<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | title=History and Milestones | access-date=January 31, 2020 | archive-date=March 31, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331042455/http://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport|Madrid]],<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | title=History and Milestones | access-date=January 31, 2020 | archive-date=March 31, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331042455/http://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Ciampino–G. B. Pastine International Airport|Rome]],<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | title=History and Milestones | access-date=January 31, 2020 | archive-date=March 31, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331042455/http://www.philippineairlines.com/AboutUs/HistoryAndMilestone | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]], [[Shanghai Longhua Airport|Shanghai–Longhua]], [[Tagbilaran Airport|Tagbilaran]]<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/pr4709.htm | title=Philippine Air Lines - PAL }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Passenger Rates | url=http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/pr/pr47/pr47-2.jpg | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217014932/http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/pr/pr47/pr47-2.jpg | archive-date=December 17, 2018 | access-date=October 27, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref>
|[[Northwest Airlines]]|[[Ted Stevens International Airport|Anchorage]], [[San Francisco International Airport|San Francisco]], [[Seattle Tacoma International Airport|Seattle]], [[Yeouido Airport|Seoul]], [[Shanghai Longhua Airport|Shanghai–Longhua]], [[Haneda Airport|Tokyo]]<ref>{{Cite web| title=International Schedules | url=https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/nw47/nw47-4.jpg | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008173455/http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/nw47/nw47-4.jpg | archive-date=2012-10-08}}</ref>}}

==See also==
{{commons category|Nielson Field}}
*[[Geography of the Philippines]]
*[[Military History of the Philippines]]
*[[Military History of the United States]]
*[[United States Army Air Forces in the South West Pacific Theatre|USAAF in the Southwest Pacific]]

==References==
<references />
{{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. {{ISBN|0-89201-092-4}}.
* {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II|orig-year=1969|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180455/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= December 20, 2016 |edition= reprint|year=1982|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-405-12194-6|oclc=72556|lccn=70605402}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180819235440/http://www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph/ Filipinas Heritage Library]

{{USAAF 5th Air Force World War II}}
{{Makati CBD}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:World War II airfields in the Philippines]]
[[Category:Military history of the Philippines during World War II]]
[[Category:Military facilities in Metro Manila]]
[[Category:Former buildings and structures in Metro Manila]]
[[Category:Airfields of the United States Army Air Corps during the Battle of the Philippines (1941–42)]]
[[Category:Defunct airports in the Philippines]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Makati]]
[[Category:Zobel de Ayala family]]