True Story How Did the Cubi Point O’Club Bar Find a Home at the National Naval Aviation Museum?
By CAPT Brian Buzzell, USN (Ret.)
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ne of the first things you learned starting flight school as an Aviation Officer Candidate (AOC) in 1969 was the importance to Naval Aviation of the culture and traditions surrounding officer clubs. In fact, as an AOC we were schooled in proper officer club etiquette and decorum and just before our commissioning The view towards Subic Bay from the outside Bar Terrace. Several years ago, there would be an AOC Ball where SBMA allowed a developer to build a condominium complex in front of the club. Pensacola young ladies (and wives of The view is now gone. AOCs) were invited, and the etiquette lady graded us on our behavior. Officer Clubs were very much a part of our lives as newly minted officers and Detachment WESTPAC 1980-81 forward deployment out future Naval Aviators. of NAF Atsugi, I had a wooden replica of a Mad Bird made to hang over the left corner of the bar. You can see it today There were many famous NAS Officer Clubs in the 1970’s hanging in the Museum Café in precisely the same place. and 80’s. NAS Oceana, NAS Breezy Point, NAS North Island, and NAS Miramar (made even more famous by the movie Top By the early 1990’s, some would argue a good portion of Gun), but arguably the most famous of all was NAS Cubi Naval Aviation history resided in the Cubi Point O’ Club Bar. Point O’ Club. Here, legends were made, careers ruined, and I was one of them. So was RADM Tom Mercer, USN (Ret.) lives changed forever. I suspect in today’s wardrooms and formerly COMNAVUSPHIL, my immediate boss and CAPT at happy hours stories are still being told of the exploits and Bruce Wood, USN (Ret.) the last CO of NAS Cubi Point. debauchery that took place inside Cubi Point O’ Club. The This history belonged to Naval Aviation, not the Philippine “etiquette lady” would have been appalled. government. The fact of the matter is they are just stories, mostly folklore, as it has been 29 years since the club closed and there are very few if any active-duty aviators that experienced firsthand a happy hour at the Cubi Point O’ Club. The club was always lively as carriers and small boys came into Subic Bay having been on Yankee Station for months during the Vietnam War or coming home from the Gulf after Desert Storm. Once ashore, the Naval Aviators gathered en masse at the club to wind down from months of combat sorties and the inherent dangers of Naval Aviation. There were no “rules” at the Cubi Point O’ Club other than the Air Wing had to pay for the damage which inevitably occurred. It got so bad during Vietnam that the Club manager required a $10,000 deposit before the carrier pulled into Subic. At some point during this cycle of deployments it became a tradition for each squadron, every staff, and each helicopter detachment to leave behind a squadron memento, plaque, or ornate carving with every pilot’s name inscribed on it. These mementos were dutifully placed in an appropriate location in the bar. Most squadrons negotiated with the club manager for the location before having the memento made by the skilled Filipino craftsman in Olongapo. During my HSL-37 LAMPS Rotor Review #152 Spring '21
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The time frame was 1992 and because of the Philippine Senate’s rejection of the renewal of the Military Bases Agreement the U.S. Navy was in the process of closing all its installations in the Philippines, the largest being Naval Operating Base, Subic Bay. The plan was to be out of the Philippines by Thanksgiving with a 2-stage withdrawal; the closure and turnover of Naval Station Subic by September 30th followed by closure and turnover of NAS Cubi Point on Wednesday, November 25th in time for the last remaining Navy personnel to get home to the states for Thanksgiving. Captain Bruce Wood and I met several times to devise a plan to remove certain artifacts from the club before the Philippine government officially made a request to have the property remain in place. I was the liaison with the Philippine government for the withdrawal and my days were consumed by Philippine officials requesting everything from bowling alleys, horses, computers, office equipment, PWC transformers, etc. to be left in place or sold to the Philippine government via the excess defense articles DRMO process. Mayor Richard Gordon of Olongapo City and the first Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman had plans to keep the O' Club open after our withdrawal. His primary focus was the bar. He knew the importance it had with the
