Naval Air Station Cubi Point — carved from the hills adjacent to Subic Bay on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines — was established in 1956 as a major aircraft carrier support facility adjacent to Naval Station Subic Bay. The creation of Cubi Point required massive earthmoving operations to level a hill. The station served as the primary Western Pacific carrier aircraft depot maintenance facility, providing intermediate and depot-level maintenance for carrier air wing aircraft operating from Yankee Station and Dixie Station during the Vietnam War and Cold War periods. Cubi Point also served as the homeport for carrier air wings between deployments and for transiting carrier battle groups. The station closed in 1992 following damage from the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption. The 1950s-era and Cold War construction of Cubi Point’s hangars, maintenance facilities, and support buildings used asbestos-containing materials consistent with military construction specifications of the period.

Carrier Aircraft Maintenance Facility Construction and Asbestos

NAS Cubi Point’s aviation maintenance facilities incorporated asbestos throughout:

  • Carrier aircraft maintenance hangars — the aircraft intermediate maintenance department (AIMD) and depot maintenance hangars at Cubi Point used 1950s military construction with asbestos-containing roofing, asbestos fire-barrier construction between hangar bays, and asbestos insulation board in the hangar superstructure. Aviation Machinist’s Mates and other maintenance ratings working in these large hangars performing depot-level carrier aircraft maintenance accumulated asbestos exposure from the asbestos-containing hangar construction
  • Aircraft maintenance shops and facilities — the specialized maintenance shops at Cubi Point — including engine test cells, avionics repair shops, and airframe shops — used military construction with asbestos floor tile, asbestos ceiling products, and asbestos pipe insulation in the facility mechanical systems of the maintenance building stock
  • Carrier aircraft fuel and ordnance support facilities — the jet fuel handling and ordnance support buildings at Cubi Point used military construction with asbestos-containing materials in the aviation support facility building stock

Vietnam War-Era Aviation Support and Asbestos

Cubi Point’s critical role in Vietnam War carrier aviation created extended exposure:

  • Vietnam combat sortie aircraft maintenance — during the Vietnam War, Cubi Point served as the critical maintenance hub for carrier air wing aircraft returning from combat operations at Yankee Station. Aviation maintenance personnel at Cubi Point performed battle damage repair and routine overhaul on combat-operated aircraft, working extended periods in the asbestos-containing maintenance hangars and shops

VA Claims for NAS Cubi Point Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at naval air stations. Navy and Marine Corps personnel who served at NAS Cubi Point during any period from the station’s 1956 opening through its 1992 closure and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.