After the two hours of sleep last night we arrived at Iwakuni feeling very crappy. But the idea of Shin Meiwa's kept us going of course
JMSDF Iwakuni
8624 MH-53E 111 Kok
8627 MH-53E 111 Kok
8628 MH-53E nn
8652 MCH.101 111 Kok
8191 CH.101 no mks
9131 OP-3C 81 Kok
9132 OP-3C 81 Kok
9133 OP-3C 81 Kok
9134 OP-3C 81 Kok
9162 UP-3D 91 Kok
9163 UP-3D 91 Kok
9172 EP-3 81 Kok
9173 EP-3 81 Kok
9174 EP-3 81 Kok
9087 US-1A 71 Kok
9901 US-2 71 Kok
9902 US-2 71 Kok
9903 US-2 71 Kok
9204 U-36A 91 Kok
9044 YS-11M-A 61 Kok
(6725) Beech 65 pr, nn (should be 81 Kok mks I think, can someone confirm?)
5813 PS-1 pr, nn (should be 31 Kok mks)
163553 UC-12F no mks
166712 UC-35D no mks
164886/WK-00 F/A-18D VMFA(AW)-224, tiger c/s
(164685)/DT-09 F/A-18D VMFA(AW)-242
164878/WK-05 F/A-18D VMFA(AW)-224
164901/WK-05 F/A-18D VMFA(AW)-224
164955/WK-03 F/A-18D VMFA(AW)-224
(165531)/DT-02 F/A-18D VMFA(AW)-242
I had been told that aircraft 99% of the time take off and land towards the north at this base. When we arrived we first drove to the southern point of the base for a quick look, from where we could see the preserved aircraft. While we were here we already heard a P-3 running, so we decided to go to the northern threshold to see what we could photograph. But before we reached that spot we saw the P-3 leave, towards the south! It was soon followed by an MCH.101 and an MH-53 that both started many T&G's. Those two choppers flew many circuits landing from the north, so at least we could photograph those nicely, albeit with a dark grey sky and no sun. In the meantime we saw a few P-3's take off, but all still in southern direction. We were expecting them to land from the northern side obviously, but suddenly one returned and came in from the south side. You can imagine a few not too nice words were said! (For those who don't know the situation: it's impossible to take pictures at the southern threshold) Luckily for us the next few P-3's that came back landed from the north, so we finally could take some pictures of those. In the meantime a civil DC-10 (I think) and a based UC-12 arrived (which I managed to miss....), both from the south.
There was not a lot of activity going, and when we asked a local about the chances of a flying US-1 he told us that they only fly about once a week nowadays, and normally in the beginning. So that sounded a bit disappointing. But in the afternoon we heard some engine niose which definately wasn't from an Orion. Would it.....? And yes, not much later 9901 taxied to the runway. And to make it even better, it was soon followed by 9087! But both took off in southern direction, so we started praying they would come back the "right" way! Not much later we suddenly heard sirens, and some ten emergency vehicles rushed to the runway. So we started looking around, and within minutes the US-2 appeared with one engine shut down and feathered. And good for us, it did come in from the north! And again, even better, it was quickly followed by the US-1, probably making a precautionary landing as well. You can imagine we were very happy by now
To finish it all off, a Learjet took off, and obviously we waited for it to return. So in the end we didn't see too many aircraft (especially the Americans were absent) but we were able to photograph all based types including the rare stuff!By the way, the serials of the two visiting Hornets of -242 came from the Scramble database; can someone confirm (or deny...) those?
Obviously this took us most of the day, so our original plan to visit Hofu and Ozuki in the afternoon had gone bust. We did go to Hofu anyway to see what we could get.
JASDF Hofu
T-7, 12 HK:
26-5902, 36-5905, 36-5906, 46-5912, 46-5914, 86-5948
04-8203 F-86D pr, 3 Kokudan mks
36-8537 F-104J pr, 203 Hik mks
(15-5816) T-1A pr, nn (someone?)
81-5506 T-3 pr, 12 HK mks
51-5632 T-33A pr, 33 Hik mks
41-0309 T-34A pr, 12 HK mks
Although we arrived around dinner time we still got a few T-7's, and the gate guards as a bonus. The Starfighter is not at the gate but a bit further west, it can be seen from road 190 with some effort. The others we managed to see from the third floor of a building in the housing area immediately south of the base. Only thing not visible from here is an F-2, which is also at the gate. I guess it's possible to see this from the other side of the short runway, but we didn't try this since we thought we had seen all of the gate guards....
Almost within spitting range of the airfield are some barracks, and those have some preserved aircraft as well.
JASDF Hofu South (34 01 17.90 N, 131 32 35.50 E)
50-8270 F-1 pr, 6 Hik mks
84-8127 F-86D pr, no mks
52-7403 F-86F pr, no mks
46-8636 F-104J pr, no mks
61-0391 T-34A pr, no mks
All are near the main gate and easily visible from the road.
Again we had some driving to do after this, but we made one more stop underway.
JASDF Kasuga (33 31 46.10 N, 130 27 50.60 E)
90-8234 F-1 pr, 6 Hik mks
This military installation has no flying units, but it does have a few preserved aircraft. Unfortunately only the F-1 can be seen from outside, and believe me, we tried for the others as well! The F-1 is pole mounted on a hill directly along road 31 and can hardly be misses while driving by.
And that concluded another day and the first operational week. Tomorrow we would first take the time to get some much needed sleep, and then drive to the southern point of South Island.
As always additions, corrections and comments are very welcome.
That's all folks!
Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation
