Japan IV 2019
In order to visit the Hyakuri air show 4Aviation sent two groups to Japan for a week. This is the report of the tour that started with the air show.
On Friday 29 November the second 4Aviation group travelling to Japan during the 2019 air show at Hyakuri gathered at Schiphol for the start of their tour. KLM took the group directly to Narita.
After arriving at Narita (Saturday 30 November) other group members joined, completing the group of 16. As soon as the rental vans were ready the group headed for Hyakuri. The “invitees only” show was on today and, if traffic was to cooperate, some of that was still within reach for the group. Traffic was actually cooperating and after arriving at Hyakuri the group found a spot near the civil terminal to enjoy the final elements of the air displays.
After this was completed it was time to find the hotel for the night. Both groups were staying in the same hotel in Tsukuba and some mingling took place in the evening. Not that there was much time to do so, since departure on Sunday was scheduled at 04.30 local time.
Sunday 1 December 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 5:45AM 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 7:00AM. Unfortunately the weather didn’t fully cooperate this Sunday. There were some sunny spells, it was mostly overcast and still 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 a Komatsu-based F-15 and the Blue Impulse team as guest appearances. The flying displays were obviously the same as the day before, the crews doing their best in showing off their hardware, including some topside passes. After the flying had ended and most of the handful of 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. After saying goodbye to the other 4Aviation group we then drove to our next hotel of the tour.
The Monday (2 December) weather unfortunately was as predicted; cloudy, grey and wet. Since we where in Japan to see aircraft, we went to Atsugi anyway. On arrival there it was still grey, wet and dull. Having ended up at the wrong runway end we had to reposition after a short while. Hardly anything moved and with almost no one on the group showing any interest in staying here longer we started the engines again and headed for Iruma. The weather there was the same and after repositioning (the barrier suddenly went up at the end we were at) it started to rain even harder than it already did. With not much going on (a Miho Beech T400 departed), very wet conditions, a similar forecast and a rather long drive towards Toyama ahead of us, the group quickly agreed in leaving the base. We ended up in our hotel at the beginning of the evening after a disappointing day, but the group spirit was still good!
For Tuesday 3 December we had a full day at Komatsu in mind. Despite a weather forecast that was better than for the Monday, while driving towards the base we weren’t very impressed with the weather conditions. Cold, cloudy and grey. Still, good enough to fly… we thought. After climbing the stairs of the terminal building at Komatsu and walking out onto the viewing deck, we were up for a disappointing view. The platform was completely empty. It was still early, but normally speaking the Japanese should have been busy towing out the Eagles already. Ignoring the signs a little we waited for better times. These didn’t come though and the weather started to deteriorate. After a while, during which nothing happened, we had to make a decision. If we stayed much longer we would not be able to try Gifu in the afternoon as an alternative. The decision was not unanimous, but we left Komatsu to try our luck at Gifu. After positioning ourselves at Gifu, halfway down the runway, the view on the platform did not promise much. Only one Eagle was on it. Some aircraft could be seen and captured near the Kawasaki plant though. We were used to disappointment by now, but still the message from the Japanese servicemen that came by (“No flight today. Come tomorrow.”) was another setback. We did get 1 T-4 from Hamamatsu for an approach. Our hotel for the night was close by and we arrived there after the second day of almost nothing… We later found out that Komatsu was quiet throughout the whole day, so we didn’t miss a thing there.
Having spent the night in Gifu we didn’t have to drive very far to get to the base on Wednesday (4 December). The weather was ok with a good forecast. The ADTW flew four aircraft in the first wave (F-2, F-15, T-4 and T-7). Since we had spent two days chasing nothing we were quite happy with that! We had by now also decided on a change of plan for the route, resulting in another visit to Hyakuri on Thursday already (instead of waiting until Friday) because of the weather forecast. That also meant that we wouldn’t be staying at Gifu for a full day and after the first wave landed in the sun we were happy to leave Gifu and head for Komaki. Nagoya-Komaki normally offers a variety of aircraft and great photo opportunities. Today was no exception. We have some interesting movements in nice weather. Third base for today was Hamamatsu and we enjoyed the museum and the operations in beautiful weather at the end of the afternoon. The training wing flew seven T-4s. A fair number, since the type was still available in small numbers only (after the grounding of the type earlier in the year). An E-767 completed the picture and happy with a good day we set off towards our hotel in Tsukuba.
Thursday 5 December we started the day early again (this is Japan). On arrival at Hyakuri we were met by the friendly Mr Umezawa and the sun. Luckily both Phantom units flew. We saw 301Hikotai launch several aircraft once and 501Hikotai flew two RF-4s. The flying activity was obviously a bit limited, but considering the aftermath of the airshow, the base providing static and flying aircraft for other shows the next weekend and the number of operational Phantoms going down, we were happy with the result. In the afternoon we spent some time at the other side (where access was more limited than before). While there one of our vans decided to stop cooperating… despite that the group consisted of 16 man, nobody was able to get it running again. While the rental company took its time to arrange something, a local mechanic was brought to the scene to fix things. At the end of the day we drove to our “regular” hotel in Tsuchiura where we managed to exchange our van for a flawless one.
On Friday (6 December) we quickly came to the conclusion that is was a wise decision to visit Hyakuri on Thursday already. On this day we only saw one F-4EJ and one RF-4E take off, both on their way to air shows. Happy with the result from the day before we decided to try our luck at Iruma for the second time. After seeing mostly rain here on Monday we were rather happy with the activity and variety on this Friday afternoon. We managed to get a decent number of aircraft pass by at the south side of the base.
The final night of the tour was spent near Narita. In the evening we evaluated the week in the hotel lobby. All in all the conclusion was that the tour had its disappointing moments/days, but what we did see and photograph did partially make up for that. It could have been better, but at least we saw and photographed a fair amount of Japanese aircraft and helicopters, with the Phantoms being the most important ones.
The return to the Netherlands, and other countries, took place on Saturday 7 December for most on the group.
