Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
JASDF Matsushima Air Base sits on the Miyagi coast at Higashimatsushima, a short distance west of Ishinomaki, and is best known to sim pilots as the home of the Blue Impulse aerobatic team and the JASDF's F-2B fighter training unit. It is a purely military aerodrome with two hard-surfaced runways and no published civil approach aids, offering an interesting destination for those flying Japanese military types.
Matsushima is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force base rather than a civil airport, serving as the headquarters of the 4th Air Wing. It hosts the 21st Fighter Training Squadron, which flies the Mitsubishi F-2B, and is the home base of the JASDF's celebrated aerobatic display team, Blue Impulse, which operates the Kawasaki T-4. A detachment of the JASDF Air Rescue Wing, equipped with UH-60J helicopters and U-125A fixed-wing aircraft, is also based here. For a simulator pilot the field is notable chiefly for its military character and its association with Japan's national display team.
The base lies in Higashimatsushima, in Miyagi Prefecture, about 6.6 nautical miles (12.2 km) west of Ishinomaki. As a JASDF facility its surrounding airspace is military-controlled, and pilots should expect restricted or controlled access rather than the open joining procedures typical of civil aerodromes.
Matsushima has two paired hard-surfaced runways. The main runway, 07/25, is 8,809 feet long and lit. The secondary runway, 15/33, is 4,906 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit. There is no ILS at the field.
Published frequencies for Matsushima include Approach and Departure on 120.1 MHz, Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) on 134.1 MHz, Radar/Ground on 27.58 MHz, a Terminal Control Area (TCA) frequency of 123.85 MHz, and Tower on 126.2 MHz.
The site was established on 7 June 1937 as a base for the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during the Second Sino-Japanese War, home to the Matsushima Naval Air Group flying Mitsubishi G3M and G4M bombers, which later took part in the Battle of Okinawa during the Second World War. The base was bombed five times in the closing weeks of the war, on 14, 15 and 17 July and 9 and 10 August 1945. After the war, American occupation authorities began rebuilding Japan's air arm through the National Safety Forces, and in 1954 the site, then known as Camp Matsushima, was renamed Matsushima Air Field as the fledgling Japan Air Self-Defense Force began training with North American T-6 Texans. In 1971 an F-86F Sabre on a training sortie from the base collided with All Nippon Airways Flight 58, killing 162 people. During the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami the base was inundated with seawater, damaging or destroying eighteen F-2B aircraft of the 21st Squadron along with other assets.
Matsushima remains an active JASDF installation and headquarters of the 4th Air Wing, with the 21st Fighter Training Squadron flying the Mitsubishi F-2B and the Blue Impulse aerobatic team operating the Kawasaki T-4 from the base. A detachment of the Air Rescue Wing, flying UH-60J helicopters and U-125A aircraft, is also stationed here. As a military aerodrome, prior permission is required for any visiting flight.