Clark Air Base: Encyclopedia II - Clark Air Base - Aircraft and military units

Clark Air Base - Aircraft and military units

Major Air Force units included the Thirteenth Air Force, the 405th Fighter Wing, the 3d Tactical Fighter Wing with the 3d Combat Support Group, the 3d Security Police Group, and the 31st Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (ARRS).

The heart of Clark's aircraft force during the 1970s and 1980s was the F-4E and F-4G fighter jet. Other planes included the T-33 trainer, the C-130 transport, HH-3E rescue helicopters and a small number of F-5 fighters that were flown by the 26th Aggressor Squadron, 3rd TFW.

Transient aircraft of many types, especially cargo jets, were very common. Fighter planes regularly visited to participate in aerial warfare exercises at Crow Valley about 30 miles (50 km) to the north.

Clark was served regularly by cargo and passenger flights to and from Andersen AFB, Guam; Kadena AB, Japan; Diego Garcia; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Saigon, Vietnam (until 1975). During the 1970s, passengers arrived via Trans International Douglas DC-8 flights from Travis AFB, California (via Honolulu and Guam).

By 1980, the base had grown to such an extent that weekly Flying Tigers Boeing 747 service to St. Louis (via Kadena AB Japan; Anchorage; and Los Angeles) had begun. The 747 service was taken over by Tower Air sometime in the late 1980s, and was augmented with a weekly Hawaiian Airlines L-1011 to Guam-Honolulu-Los Angeles.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Aircraft and military units", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki