South Korea & Japan 2017
In October 2017 we travelled to South Korea and Japan for 2 weeks. During the tour we visited the ADEX show at Seongnam, the Aerospace Expo at Sacheon and Kunsan Air Base. In between we visited Japan for a number of bases in the larger Tokyo area.
On Sunday 15 October 2017 eight of the eleven participants of the group that would take part in the South Korea and Japan tour met at Schiphol for their Lufthansa flight to Munich. In Munich another participant joined the group and an A340-600 was used to cover the distance between Munich and Seoul-Incheon.
After arrival at Seoul-Incheon (Monday 16 October by now) two more participants joined and after collecting our rental cars we headed straight for Seongnam Air Base. Our goal was to try and visit the media day of the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition (ADEX). The media event was to take place between 10 and 12 but when we arrived after 12 we were welcomed anyway. Since not many people were around capturing the majority of the static display aircraft was easier. We witnessed some rehearsals for the public days. After the rehearsals we decided to go outside to capture the based aircraft that started their normal operations in the afternoon. At the end of the day we drove to our hotel in Suwon and enjoyed our first Asian meal of the tour.
On Tuesday (17 October) we started the day rather early, in order to be at Seongnam on time. Access was as easy as it was the day before and the sun was cooperating again today as well. Today the official opening of the event would take place and this was, as is usual, accompanied by a fly past of various aircraft types of the Republic of Korea Air Force. The fly past itself was a bit smaller than during other editions (no propeller aircraft took part for instance) but the smoke they generated seemed to ‘flow in a better direction’ than last time. We waited for the Black Eagles to arrive before we went outside again to spend some time in the approach. Happy with the result we drove back toward Suwon at the end of the afternoon.
For Wednesday 18 October we had planned to stay at ADEX until early afternoon only and therefore stay inside for the duration. The weather was not as good as the days before, but we managed to persuade the Phantom jockey (one F-4E was in static display) to allow us to remove the ribbons for a short while to be able to make a clear of his aircraft. The Raptor display pilot promised us a lot of vapour before he took off. A couple of other demo aircraft took the air as well and the locals were pretty active again (including BAe125s and a HS 748). Just after midday we drove towards the War Memorial of Korea. Quite a lot of interesting aircraft are displayed here. Then we continued towards Boramae Park in Seoul for more preserved aircraft. It was then time to head for our hotel near Gimpo airport. From Gimpo we would fly to Japan (Haneda) on Thursday for the second part of the tour. By now it was clear that the weather forecast for Japan was pretty bad… rain and wind… for several days to come. This forecast lead to one participant opting to stay in South Korea instead of joining us to Japan.
Take off from Gimpo was scheduled for 07.45 on Thursday (19 October). The cars had been handed in the day before (in the hotel, not at the airport, due to comms issues) so we used a couple of taxi’s to get to the airport. A Boeing 787 took us to Haneda and on arrival there it became clear that the weather forecast was accurate (rain). We had said goodbye to one participant in the morning already and at Haneda a second one parted the group (a scheduled goodbye) and another one was waiting there to join. We headed for Iruma and bought our stepladders on our way there. The murky weather continued. At Iruma not a lot was going on. A couple of C-130s visited. We continued to our hotel for the night and all were in high spirits while enjoying a good meal in a local restaurant.
Friday 20 October we got up early to report at the entrance of the tower area at Hyakuri on time. On arrival the weather wasn’t too bad. Overcast, but not raining. The platform was showing that all preparations for the military review had taken place. This military review is held every year, rotating between the air force, the army and the navy. Once every three years it is the air force’s turn and this happens at Hyakuri. The activity during the day was limited, but we ended up seeing and capturing all types that we came for; the F-4EJ and RF-4E. During the day we also received information that the rehearsal for the military review, scheduled for Sunday (22 October), was cancelled.
A super typhoon (named ‘Lan’) was approaching, with lots of rain and wind. This forecast made us decide to change our plan. Originally we were planning to go to Hyakuri on Sunday, Komatsu on Monday and Gifu/Hamamatsu on Tuesday. We decided to skip Komatsu (since it was no use driving the extra hundreds of kilometres to be in the same rain at the other side of the country). Instead we planned to visit Tokyo (as tourists) on Sunday and head for Nagoya on Monday to start at Gifu on Tuesday.
The Saturday (21 October) was executed as planned; a visit to NAF Atsugi, Yokota AB and Tokorazawa museum. Another rainy day, but the Australian P-3 Orion taking off from Atsugi was very nice!
The rainy Saturday was followed by an even rainier and windier Sunday (22 October). Despite this we enjoyed our visit to the capital of Japan. Shibuya crossing, Sensoji temple and the National Museum of Nature and Science (for an authentic Mitsubishi Zero) kept us busy all day.
After another nice evening with the entire group joining for dinner we were ready for some action again early on Monday 23 October. Typhoon ‘Lan’ had moved North a bit quicker than predicted and we were heading South-West (towards Nagoya). On our way there we saw the sun for the first time while in Japan. We also passed Mount Fuji. This was completely without the ring of snow on the top, which was a very strange sight… Apparently this was a result of the typhoon. We ended up at Gifu in time to capture the recovery of the third wave of the day. As usual at Gifu, it was an interesting mixture of aircraft types. The late afternoon sunlight added to the spirits of the group. We spent the next night in Gifu.
On Tuesday 24 October we headed back to Gifu in the morning. A quick peek at the platform revealed a lot of activity about to take place, including Phantoms. We were happy to witness three F-4EJs launch, next to F-15s, T-4s and a T-7. Some visitors added to the delight of our stay there. Happy with the result we decided to move to Komaki in time. From the civil terminal we were able to capture their C-130s (some moving) and were lucky to have a test flight of a brand new SH-60K. We then continued towards Hamamatsu for the museum and a good number of T-4s. All in all a good day, with lots of activity. We then moved to our final hotel in Japan to spend the night.
Wednesday (25 October) was our last day in Japan. The group had decided on another attempt at Iruma, so that is where we went. Unfortunately the weather had gotten worse again and we ended up in the rain at Iruma again. This made this 4Aviation visit to Japan the wettest so far. Despite this, there was a lot of activity (U-4s, C-1s, EC-1, YS-11, T-4s) and we enjoyed our stay a lot anyway. Since we had to fly back to Gimpo later in the day we couldn’t stay at Iruma too long. Early afternoon we therefore drove towards Haneda. ANA took us back to Gimpo in South Korea. We ended up in the very heavy Seoul traffic, but managed to reach our hotel in Cheonan at a decent time anyway.
For Thursday 26 October we had been granted a visit to Kunsan Air Base. We reported at the gate at 08.30 in the morning and were met by our hosts there soon after. The sun was shining brightly and access was smooth and quick. Before we knew it we were shooting F-16s on the taxi-track (WPs, next to USAF WI and CO Air National Guard and ROKAF ones). All units launched lots of F-16s. In the hours we spent at the base we could capture the F-16s near the taxi-track, from the tower and some in the shelter area. A great visit! Part of the deal was that we had to have our photos checked before leaving. And so we did, after lunch on base we handed in our memory cards. To kill time we visited a number of preserved aircraft (including an F-4D, F-86, etc.). After returning to the gate it took some time before our memory cards were given back, but it was worth the wait. We said goodbye to our hosts and headed for Busan. We spent the night very close to the airport there.
Friday (27 October) was our last full day in South Korea and we had planned to visit the Gyeongnam Sacheon Aerospace Expo at Sacheon Air Base. In glorious sunshine we were among the very first visitors to pass the entrance checks. The event, though small, offers an interesting static display with a variety of choppers, fighters and transport aircraft. Very interesting was an Iraqi Air Force T-50 in static. With KAI being at Sacheon this aircraft was built on the other side of the runway, hence its presence. We enjoyed the, small, air show with local KT-1s, the Black Eagles and some C-130 activity. We waited until the end for the sun to position itself perfectly for the choppers to be captured. A very very nice end to the tour!
What remained was our return journey to Seoul, spending the night in Cheonan again, and our return flights to Amsterdam (via Munich again) on Saturday 28 October. The two visits to South Korea during this tour where that much fun that this fully made up for the unfortunate weather conditions in Japan!
