A few years ago a cousin of mine told me about the supposedly top-secret project of then President Ferdinand Marcos to develop a rocket or missile indigenously. The name of the rocket is Bongbong 1. I was incredulous when I heard about it (until today) when I remembered the story and did some googling.
What I unearthed is that there is actually a program, called Santa Barbara Project, and the launching pad of the missiles/rockets was the Caballo Island, which is near Corregidor.
There's a thread at timawa.net that has some pictures of the launching of the rockets/missiles (pics above). One version of the rocket can be launched by a mobile truck-mounted launcher, and there is also a submerged launcher, like from a submarine probably.
To quote:
To quote:
"Since 1972 a series of 37 dynamic tests were conducted on the 180-mm rocket. All tests were performed at Caballo Island except for four firings in Fort Magsaysay. Different versions...were used: short version, with fixed fins, long version with fixed fins, long version with folding fins, and the pressure-assisted takeoff type...The launchers were Fixed Open Frame (short), Fixed Open Frame (long), truck-mounted tube launcher, truck-mounted open frame and submerged launcher for underwater firing"
this is Caballo Island, as seen from Corregidor (taken by me last January 2010):
updated Jan. 18, 2012 to add the quotes and to increase the image sizes.
