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Hamamatsu Air Base is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force installation on the northern edge of Hamamatsu city in Shizuoka Prefecture, home to training squadrons, the E-767 AWACS force and a well-known aviation museum. For the simulator pilot it offers a long, single hard-surfaced runway and a rich history stretching back to the 1920s, though it remains an active military field with no routine civil access.
Hamamatsu Air Base (JASDF Hamamatsu Air Base, ICAO RJNH) is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force base at Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the island of Honshu in central Japan. It is owned by the Ministry of Defense and operated by the JASDF, serving as headquarters of the JASDF Air Training Command as well as a base for E-767 AWACS operations. For a virtual pilot it is an interesting destination thanks to its long history as an Imperial Japanese Army flight school, its later role in postwar Japanese air defence training, and the large aviation museum sited alongside the runway.
The base lies about 3.0 nautical miles (5.6 km) north of the city of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, in central Japan, at coordinates 34.7502N, 137.703E. As an active military airfield it sits within controlled airspace associated with JASDF operations, with approach, departure and tower services provided locally.
Hamamatsu has a single physical runway, 09/27, of hard surface construction and lit, with a length of approximately 8,310 feet. There is no ILS installed at the field.
Published frequencies for the base are: Approach (APP) 120.1 MHz, Departure (DEP) 120.1 MHz, Ground (GND) 126.2 MHz, Tower (TWR) 126.2 MHz, PMSV 34.46 MHz, and TCA 127.95 MHz. There is no published instrument landing system at the field.
The most prominent visual landmark for locating the base is the JASDF Hamamatsu Air Base Museum (Air Park) alongside the airfield, which includes a shaded viewing platform from which visitors can watch aircraft using the active runway. The base itself sits just north of the built-up area of Hamamatsu city, making the urban boundary a useful reference when approaching from the south.
Hamamatsu Air Base was established in 1925 as an Imperial Japanese Army Air Force base, home to the newly formed IJAAF No. 7 Air Regiment, and in 1933 it was designated the primary flight school for Japanese army aviation. Following the Second World War the airfield was used briefly as an emergency landing strip by the United States Air Force before being returned to the Japanese government in 1952 for use as a flight training school for the newly formed Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The training syllabus was reorganised in 1954 into separate schools for flight training, aircraft maintenance and communications, and in 1958 the base was divided into northern and southern areas, with the operational north housing the 1st Air Wing and, from 1960, the Blue Impulse aerobatic squadron. Blue Impulse moved to Matsushima Air Base in 1981, though the team suffered a fatal mid-air collision during a farewell display at Hamamatsu in 1982. The 1st Air Wing transitioned from Lockheed T-33A trainers to Kawasaki T-4 trainers in 1988, and in 1989 the northern and southern halves of the base were reunited into a single administrative entity. From 1998 Hamamatsu became the home base of Japan's squadron of Boeing E-767 AWACS aircraft, and in 1999 the JASDF Hamamatsu Air Base Publication Center, an aviation museum, was established, later expanded into the present Air Park. In 2004, marking the 50th anniversary of the JASDF, the base hosted a display by the United States Air Force Thunderbirds. From 2008 the MIM-104 Patriot missile system has been deployed at the base.
Hamamatsu is currently headquarters to the JASDF Air Training Command and hosts a range of units, including the 1st Air Wing with its 31st and 32nd Training Squadrons flying the Kawasaki T-4, the Airborne Early Warning Group's 602nd Squadron operating the Boeing E-767, the Air Basic Training Wing, an Air Rescue Wing detachment with U-125A and UH-60J aircraft, an anti-aircraft missile group, technical and officer training schools, and air traffic control and weather service groups. As an active military installation it is not open for routine civil use and prior permission would be required for any visiting flight. Alongside the runway, the JASDF Hamamatsu Air Base Museum (Air Park) displays a large collection of historic JASDF aircraft, including a restored Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero, and offers flight simulators and a viewing area for watching current base flying activity.
