As 1944 came to a close in the Philippines, the U.S. Army was still locked in bitter fighting on Leyte. A second landing at Ormoc on December 7th cut off the remaining Japanese forces from resupply, yet resistance persisted for months. Just a week later, U.S. Sixth Army units came ashore on Mindoro to secure sites for airfields intended to support the drive on Manila, where MacArthur aimed to fulfill his promise to return. On January 9th, he landed Sixth Army troops at Lingayen Gulf to begin the liberation of Luzon.
In these final months of 1944, Marine Air Group 12 moved to Leyte under Fifth Air Force command, joining Army Air Forces P-38s, P-47s, and Marine F4Us—as well as supporting bombers—to defend the invasions, strike Japanese positions, and interdict shipping and air attacks. These operations produced some of the fiercest air battles of the Philippine campaign, fought across Leyte, Mindoro, and Luzon as Japanese losses soared and replacements dwindled. This FSO centers on those climactic battles and the Allied landings in late December 1944 and early January 1945.
FRAME 1: 09 January 2026
FRAME 2: 16 January 2026
FRAME 3: 23 January 2026
Full Writeup:
https://ahevents.net/index.php/fso-setups/37-pacific-theatre/1369-in-the-philippine-skies
