Japan III (2018)

Japan III 2018

Our third tour to Japan in 2018 was predominantly aimed at capturing the Phantoms at Hyakuri, including during the air show on 2 December. Again, the Japanese armed forces did not disappoint us.

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24/25 November 2018

Mid-day on this Saturday (24 November 2018) a group of 11 travelers (out of 16) met up at the temporary meeting point at Schiphol airport. Bag drop was a breeze as was security. At the gate 1 other traveler met up with us, flying in from the UK. Our KLM 777 flight departed on time and took us non-stop to Narita.

Arrival to Narita on Sunday 25 November was on-time, the customs formalities went efficient and soon we met up in the arrivals hall with more participants that made the trip on their own to complete our group of 16. Pick up of the 3 rental vans took a while, as rental car agencies always seem to take more time than expected, but all was good. The vans were loaded with our luggage and a stack of stepladders (many with 4Aviation stickers) that were stocked at the rental car premises. As it was Sunday with no planned activities the group decided to hunt for potential wrecks and relics which didn’t yield much of a result. The drive to the hotel took us past Ushiku Daibutsu (a 120m tall Buddha statue) and a local hardware store to stock up on stepladders. We arrived around 16:00 at the hotel for the night. Some us decided to grab dinner that evening, others went straight to bed.

26 November 2018

Monday 26 November. Phantoms Day 1. We left the hotel early to be on time at the famous Peace Towers at Hyakuri. Upon arrival, the sun was shining and the ground crews of the three resident F-4 Phantom squadrons were busy pulling a substantial quantity of F-4s and T-4s out of the hangars for today’s missions. The first engine starts were around 8:30 am with a first take-off some 25 minutes later. Although high clouds prevented full sunshine at times, all action could be photographed in pretty good weather from the towers or from a stepladder along the fence. Each of the resident squadrons flew thee waves with last take-offs by 301 Hikotai about 90 minutes before sunset. We witnessed their recoveries in the last light of the day. After a successful first day at the fence, we boarded our vans and headed to Yokohama for a night’s stay close to NAF Atsugi, our first stop for the Tuesday.

27 November 2018

On Tuesday morning (27 November) we drove the few remaining kilometers from our hotel to NAF Atsugi. The weather was overcast with a cold wind blowing from the north. The Japanese Navy platforms were full with P-1s, P-3s, C-130s, but, as has been the case since the US Navy carrier air wing moved to Iwakuni, flight operations appeared rather limited. Notwithstanding this, we scored the test P-3, a few SH-60s and a surprise visitor, a US-2 flying boat. Around 10:30, we decided we had enough of the cold and headed to Iruma. At Iruma the conditions were the opposite with a clear blue sky and almost no wind. After observing some T-4 movements near the well-known hospital, the runway direction was changed. Subsequently we made our way to north end of the field. The afternoon we were entertained by many of the based aircraft types and a few visitors all of which could be photographed in beautiful light. The absolute highlights being a local flight performed by the EC-1 Platypus and two local hops by a YS-11EB. After sunset, we had a few hours of motorway to cover most of the distance to our destination for Wednesday morning: Gifu.

28 November 2018

Gifu is the base that hosts the test wing of the Japanese Air Force and if the weather plays ball, a nice mix of aircraft types can usually be seen. We set up, on Wednesday 28 November, in the eastern approach and soon the first wave of the day made their take-offs. About 1h 30mins later they returned including not one but two ADTW Phantoms. A handful of other test aircraft and visitors followed quickly after which we waited for the 2nd wave to launch. Around 11 am the 2nd wave went airborne including the red-white-blue F-2B. After the Wave 2 recoveries, including a third ADTW Phantom, we made our way to the Kakamigahara museum adjacent to the air base. This has recently been re-opened after renovation and is much improved. The visit was kept brief so we could be in time at Nagoya-Komaki to witness some activity there before darkness. After sunset we departed Nagoya for a long drive to our hotel in Tsuchiura. After a quick dinner at a Tomei Expressway service area we crossed downtown Tokyo. Little traffic made this a rather surreal experience. We arrived at the hotel late that evening for a few hours of rest until an early rise to make it to Hyakuri the next morning.

29 November 2018

Thursday 29 November. Phantoms Day 2. Another bright sunshiny day. Pretty much the same scenario as we witnessed on Monday. Well in time we made it to the Peace Gate where we witnessed the ground crews preparing Phantoms and T-4s on Hyakuri’s large platform for today’s missions. First engine starts were around 08:30 but a first take off was unusually late for Hyakuri, well after 9 o’clock. 302 Hikotai launched first after which 301 and 501 took their turns as did the rescue squadron. At lunchtime, with the sun slowly turning against us at the peace towers, we moved location. We relocated to the south western corner (northeasterly winds) where runway line-ups and landings can be photographed very well. At sunset we visited the two F-4s next to the Ibaraki airport terminal. The day ended in typical Japanese style at a local Izakaya restaurant.

30 November 2018

Friday 30 November. Phantoms day 3. Early in the morning of a bright sunny day, once more we made our way to the Peace Gate with the famous towers overlooking Hyakuri airbase. Today proved to be different than Monday and Thursday. Two special colored F-4EJs from 302 Hikotai were on the platform positioned for a photoshoot. Resident 301 and 501 squadrons started executing their missions as usual. Two F-15s came in early from Komatsu as participants of the open house. A bit later both the white and black specials were started and taxying out much to the delight of the many photographers. They taxied by, then did an engine run-up on the runway and rolled back to the platform in perfect morning light. After lunch it became apparent that there would be limited local flying in the afternoon. We hung around the base anyway to catch the few scheduled participants to the airshow including a nice P-1 which arrived shortly before sunset.

1 December 2018

Saturday 1 December. Phantoms Day 4. Today was the Hyakuri families day and access to the base was only possible for military personnel and their families. We had pre-booked access to the peace towers once more. Police notified that local roads would be closed at 6 am. In order to be certain to avoid the potential roadblocks, we departed the hotel at 4 am and arrived at the peace towers at 04:45. The weather turned fantastic with clear blue sky all day. The airshow itself held only a few flying display items in the program, but when was the last airshow you witnessed with mainly Phantoms roaring over your head?

2 December 2018

Sunday 2 December. Phantoms Day 5. Today was the actual Hyakuri airshow day, open to the general public. Due to the advertised no parking on-base and expected massive crowds and traffic congestion we again started at an early hour. Around 6:15 am we parked up a short walk away from the base main gate. To our surprise, it was already possible to enter the base at this early hour, with access to the platform granted at 7:30 am. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate this Sunday as it was mostly overcast and rather cold. This didn’t seem to stop the crowds from coming though as the platform and surrounding grass areas were quickly filled up with spectators. In typical Japanese style, static and flight line were basically mixed. Display aircraft are started up and taxi out in front of the public giving an up-close feel. Each of the resident squadrons provided a display item with an F-15 as a guest appearance. The flying displays were obviously the same as the day before, the crews doing their best in regularly showing off their hardware with topside passes. After the flying had ended and the guest aircraft had departed back to their home base, we hung around until the platform was cleared of people and then some more off base until most of the road traffic had cleared and then drove trouble-free to our last hotel of this trip near Narita airport. Time to celebrate a successful week with a few drinks!

3 December 2018

This Monday (3 December) was our return travel day back to Europe. The hotel shuttle brought us to the terminal. Check-in, the flight, all was uneventful. At the luggage carrousel @Schiphol we shook hands and said goodbye. End to a fabulous week in Japan blessed with mostly fine weather topped off with an airshow with mainly F-4s flying. One for the book of memories and what’s not to like about that?

Japan III 2018

Japan III 2018

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Japan III (2018)

Japan III 2018

Japan III 2018

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