San Pablo Airfield

Military Decommissioning. San Pablo Airfield, also known as Buri Strip, was a temporary military installation built by the U.S. Army during World War II for a specific strategic purpose: the liberation of the Philippines. Once the war concluded and the campaign in the region was over, the airfield was no longer required for military operations. Like many similar forward airbases, it was abandoned as U.S. forces demobilized or relocated. The land was subsequently returned to its pre-war agricultural state.

The site of the former airfield has been almost completely repurposed. The land has largely reverted to agricultural use, consisting mainly of rice paddies and coconut plantations. While the faint, ghostly outline of the main runway and taxiways is still discernible from satellite imagery, there are no remaining airport structures. In a significant recent development, a large portion of the former airfield is now occupied by the Burauen Solar Power Plant, a utility-scale solar farm that harnesses the flat, open land for renewable energy generation.

San Pablo Airfield was a historically significant U.S. Fifth Air Force base during the Philippines Campaign of World War II, particularly during the pivotal Battle of Leyte (1944-1945). Construction began in late October 1944 by U.S. Army aviation engineers immediately following the American landings. The process was notoriously difficult due to torrential rains and deep mud, earning the complex the nickname 'mudhole.' Despite these challenges, it became a major operational hub. The airfield primarily hosted heavy and medium bomber units, including the 22nd, 43rd, and 380th Bombardment Groups flying B-24 Liberators, and the 345th Bombardment Group flying B-25 Mitchell bombers. These units conducted critical missions, providing close air support for ground forces fighting on Leyte and striking Japanese shipping, supply depots, and airfields throughout the Philippine archipelago, contributing significantly to the Allied victory in the campaign.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening San Pablo Airfield. The land has been fully integrated back into the local civilian economy for agriculture and, more recently, for renewable energy infrastructure. The primary air transportation needs of the province of Leyte and the Eastern Visayas region are served by the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (IATA: TAC, ICAO: RPVA) in Tacloban City. Re-establishing an airport at the San Pablo site would be economically unfeasible, strategically unnecessary, and would require the complex acquisition of privately owned agricultural land and the decommissioning of the existing solar power facility.