Allied Aerial Defenders of the Philippines 

     The date was December 2, 1941. The scene of action was Batangas Airfield, home base of the 6th Pursuit Squadron (PS), Philippine Army Air Corps (PAAC), on the island of Luzon. The aerial arena was dominated by 27 Mitsubishi G3M2 Type 96 bombers and their 41 escorting Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters. The bombers were busily engaged in unloading their lethal cargo onto the hangars, runways and parked aircraft below. Harassing this large force like a swarm of mosquitoes were five small Boeing P-26A "Peashooters" flown by Filipino pilots. 
      Two days before, the members of the 6th PS had been attending an air defense briefing at Zablan Field in Rizol, the home base of the 1st School Squadron, PAAC, when Japanese bombers attacked around noon. Although the 6th PS was no match for the escorting Zeros, its unit commander, Capt. Jesus A. Villamor, had scrambled his P-26s, which had managed to harass the Japanese enough to prevent them from causing further damage. Unfortunately for the tiny 5-year-old PAAC, most of the parked aircraft were destroyed, including several Stearman PT-17A Kaydet primary trainers, a Keystone B-3A bomber, a Martin B-10 bomber, a Stinson SR-R Reliant and a visiting Boeing P-12E pursuit aircraft. 
       Now, for the second time in two days, the 6th PS was in the air, this time in a brave but futile attempt to defend its home base against crushing odds. Flying alongside Villamor were Lts. Godofredo M. Juliano, Jose Mondigo, Cesar Basa and Jose Kare. During the ensuing melee, members of the 6th PS became separated from each other. Villamor had gone directly for the bombers and severely damaged one of them before being driven off by the Zeros. The other four pilots were less . . .