South Korea & Taiwan 2019
Two airshows in South Korea and one in Taiwan were a great incentive to visit both countries during a two-week tour in October 2019. It turned out to be a very interesting and rewarding tour again!
The October 2019 tour to South Korea and Taiwan started on Sunday 13 October 2019. Four of the seven participants to the tour met at Schiphol for the Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul. At Istanbul another participant joined, after which the flight to Seoul Incheon was ´enjoyed´. Arrival at Incheon (on Monday 14 October) was on time and, after the sixth participant had joined, we picked up two rental cars and headed straight for Seongnam.
At Seongnam we could enter easily on this Monday and rather soon after our arrival in South Korea, we were walking among ROKAF aircraft. The weather was great, the static display a bit troublesome as usual. Ropes around the aircraft made it difficult to get the shots you prefer, but the lack of visitors today helped on the positive side. Quite a number of Korean and US aircraft were present. Perhaps the most admired one this day was the F-4E Phantom. The pilot was pleased by the attention his aircraft got.
At the end of the day we drove a bit South for our hotel for the next three nights. Since the hotel restaurant looked very convenient we didn’t have to walk far at the end of this day.
On Tuesday 15 October we headed for ADEX at Seongnam again. The final participant had joined the group by now. Weather was still brilliant, and soon after arrival we could capture several visiting aircraft and some locals that were active. We had another look at the KF-X mock-up, as it gives some hopes for the future. The looks of this aircraft are quite appealing, at least to those on our group. Attention was then given to the official opening of the event and the mass fly-pass that usually accompanies it.
This year the fly-pass was quite big again, included Phantoms again and (contrary to previous editions) gave good options for photos. A clear sky helped, as well as the coloured smoke that appeared to go exactly where we wanted it to be for clear(er) photos! After the opening we waited for the Black Eagles to arrive and the demo’s to be completed, before we want outside for approach shots. This resulted in an enjoyable afternoon with quite some locals being active and a lot of variety.
Since we felt we had seen enough from ADEX and its participants, we decided to make the Wednesday (16 October) a day for museum and preserved aircraft. We started at Boramae Park, followed by the War Memorial of Korea. After that we decided to drive towards Paju. Due to concerns of swine fever entering the country from North Korea, the most interesting part of our destination as closed. We couldn’t get to the 3rd Tunnel of Aggression. A preserved Phantom, and three more preserved aircraft nearby were appreciated nevertheless.
On Thursday 17 October we were scheduled to fly from Seoul to Taipei for the start of our Taiwan part of the tour. Since we had experienced morning traffic around Seoul for a couple of days already, we decided to leave the hotel early again, despite not flying until noon. Eva Air took us across and after arriving at Taipei in the afternoon we spent some time at Songshan, were we witnessed a couple of movements before driving to our hotel near Hsinchu.
Friday (18 October) started with a couple of preserved aircraft near Hsinchu before heading for the approach area. The air force didn’t disappoint again, sending a fair number of Mirage 2000s into the air on this Friday morning. Since we had an appointment at the NASC (thanks Reinier) just after noon, we left Hsinchu after a couple of hours already. Our hosts at the NASC department at Taichung were very welcoming. After a briefing about the organisation we were given plenty of time to capture their choppers. One UH-60 flew with a bambi-bucket and we were allowed to take photos of the chopper while being sprayed (to wash off the salty water) after its return. After thanking our hosts we headed for the approach. Unfortunately, the last Ching Kuo had just landed when we got there. Therefore, we left soon after and visited several wrecks & relics locations on our way to our hotel in Tainan.
The Saturday (19 October) started very early. A visit to the air show at Tainan was planned for today and we didn’t want to park at the designated parking areas off site and use shuttle buses. That meant we had to get close to the gate very early, before all security/parking staff would be present. This worked out fine and we were quite close to the front of the queue waiting to get in. We were on the list of foreigners (thanks Liyu!) and managed to get a good spot along the taxi track straight away. The air show consisted of a launch of seven F-CK-1C/D aircraft (five + two spares) and solo demos by the F-16, Mirage 2000 and another F-CK-1C. The national team, the Thunder Tigers, flew as well with their AT-3s. Later in the day the seven Ching Kuo’s took to the sky again. Combined with several visiting C-130s and other VIP aircraft and a static display, the entire event was quite interesting! After the show, we spent another night in Tainan.
On 20 October, Sunday, we enjoyed a breakfast before leisurely heading for the ROCAF museum at Gangshan. In bright sunshine we spent a couple of hours inside the museum. The rest of the day was as relaxed as the beginning. We had to get to Taitung today and took our time to get there. Visiting a couple of wrecks & relics along the way. At the end of the afternoon we checked in at our hotel next to the base and walked to the restaurant of our choice for some good food and a couple of drinks.
On Monday (21 October) we only had to open the curtains to see that the air force was preparing for their daily routine early in the day already. A little later, we were able to witness the flying activities from the hotel roof. The F-5 Tigers were pretty active, as is normal practice here! The weather was more than fine and besides numerous F-5s we were treated to some interesting visitors! After two full wave that flew in the morning we followed to sun to the other side of the runway and spent a couple of hours in the approach. Unfortunately, the sun was now gone, for the first time during the whole tour. Hualien was our next target, so later in the afternoon on Monday we covered the distance between Taitung and Hualien.
Our last day Taiwan (Tuesday 22 October) was spent at Hualien, the F-16 base on the East Coast of the island. Lots of F-16s flew in the morning which we were able to capture in take-off and during landing. Since we had to fly back to South Korea in the evening, we left Hualien early in the afternoon. By then the sun was becoming less favourable for photos anyway. The drive to Taipei-Taoyuan, the handing in of het rental vehicle and the flight back to Incheon went according to plan. We landed around midnight and had therefore reserved a hotel very close to the airport. After a remarkable taxi-ride we went straight to bed.
After much communication we had been given the OK for a visit to Osan Air Base on Wednesday 23 October. A last minute change to the itinerary meant that we were visiting the base in the afternoon and not early in the day. This gave us the chance to get some sleep after all. Access to the base was very smooth and the hosts were very friendly. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a rather short visit and we could only ‘stand’ on one spot. Nevertheless, the opportunity to visit was appreciated by the group and resulted in a couple of very nice shots. After saying goodbye we headed South, to strategically position ourselves for the air show at Sacheon next day.
After spending the night in Jinju we got up early again on Thursday (24 October). The Sacheon Airshow 2019 opened at 9 AM and we were literally the first ones to walk through the gate (there were more entrances though). The static display was interesting, containing several Korean fighters, trainers and helicopters. Unfortunately, the aircraft in the static display were now positioned within ribbons. Due to some clouds, the participants of the flying display and the visitors could be photographed quite nicely though. Not a huge event, but as long as you are ‘near’ it is certainly worth visiting. A total of 16 of the local KT-1s flew to form ‘70’ in the air, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Republic of Korea Air Force. In the afternoon most of the group visited the interesting KAI museum. The last night in a hotel was spent in Daejeon.
For Friday 25 October we had planned to do some operational ‘things’ while in South Korea. All on the group had been consulted before the tour started to assess if they felt like doing this. The unanimous decision was to go ahead with it. First place of today was Cheongju. Currently the home base for the F-35s, the base also hosts the 29 Tactical Development & Training Group that operates/loans various aircraft types and various helicopters. We were lucky to catch several aircraft and helicopter types in the approach (F-4, F-5, F-16, F-35, UH-1 and Ka-32) in bright sunshine. In the afternoon we went to Suwon for the F-4s and F-5s that are based there. Although a Friday afternoon, they launched no less than 10 F-4s and 23 F-5s! Most of them could be captured nicely, although the weather was not as cooperative as we had hoped.
With the last shots of the tour being ROKAF F-4s and F-5s we were more than happy with the tour overall. What remained now was the return journey. After dropping one of the participants at his hotel (flying home the next day) we checked in for our flights back home. Departure was just before midnight, arriving in Amsterdam on Saturday 26 October.
