JMSDF – Where Are They Now?

As far as is possible, this section will provide the latest information on the whereabouts of surviving examples of withdrawn JMSDF aircraft, which can be found in places far removed from the cosseted shelter of aviation museums. Divided into fixed-wing and helicopter types, the information comes in the form of tables by aircraft type that are being interspersed with a growing number of photos.

All the aircraft listed are on open-air display unless otherwise stated; bold-type serial numbers indicate aircraft that appear in photos, usually immediately after the relevant table.

As a general guide, a colour-coded Where Are They Now? listing by prefecture, as far as possible updated to December 2020, follows the tabular aircraft information on this page [here].

This US-1A is one of four aircraft that have guarded the entrance to what is now the Gifu-Kakamigahara
Air and Space Museum for more than 20 years. Having been withdrawn from service in December
2017, what was the last flying example of the US-1A remains at Iwakuni, where the city
reportedly has plans to build a flying boat museum. 

Operated from the Antarctic survey ship Shirase, the Mitsubishi-built Sikorsky S-61A-1 seen above
on a murky day at its Tateyama shore base is still displayed close to the base’s main gate.(Photographs taken in October 2002 [top] and October 2013 [above])

(All photographs on this website are copyright J-HangarSpace
unless otherwise stated.) 

Fixed-Wing Types

NOTABLE ABSENTEES 1/2

A Kanoya-based TBM-3S2 Avenger, which made up half of the 20 aircraft of this
type that supplied in 1954–1955.
(Photo from September 1956 issue of The World’s Aircraft, used with permission of
Hobun Shorin Co., Ltd.)

As is the case with those aircraft operated by its sister services, there a very few representatives from the JMSDF’s formative years still in existence. In retrospect one particularly glaring omission would have to be the Grumman TBM Avenger (above and below), 20 of which ended up being forced to change sides from former foe to friend in the mid-1950s. 

Where they ended up rather than where they are now. Reminiscent of the scenes at military airfields
throughout Japan following the end of the war, this evocative image from October 1976 shows a 
JMSDF Avenger that had survived at the 3rd MSDF Service School (3MSS) at
Shimofusa, Chiba Prefecture. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

YS-11T-A 6902 of the 205th Sqn over a typical Japanese coastline, most likely part of
Chiba Prefecture. (Photo [undated]: JMSDF)

Despite the deep affection felt for an aircraft type that provided more than 40 years of sterling service, none of the JMSDF’s 10 NAMC YS-11s were retained for posterity either. Following the retirement of the last examples—in May 2011 for the six YS-11T-A trainers and in December 2014 for the YS-11M and ’M-A transports—most were gathered at Shimofusa and cannibalized for spares to keep JASDF and Japan Coast Guard aircraft flying; two YS-11Ts were still present in August 2015 (link). One of the two YS-11M-As had been extensively damaged in a runway overrun accident at Ozuki on September 28, 2009  (seen here six days after the incident [link]), and was officially struck off charge the following July.

Replacing the Beech SNB as the JMSDF’s standard basic instrument trainer, a total of 28 B-65s were
operated from 1962 to 1991. The aircraft on display at Kanoya saw service with the
202nd Naval Air Training Squadron.

Located on the border of Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures, but with a postal address in the
latter, Hachigamine Park in Wakicho has boasted this B-65 among its many attractions since
at least the late 1990s. Its appearance was little changed in May 2019 (link).
(Photo [Oct. 2007]: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

(Photo [Shimofusa, Oct. 2020]: Air Training Command via Twitter @jmsdf_atrc)

Handed over to the JMSDF on June 8, 1970, the B-65 now resident at Tateyama AB was withdrawn from
from service when based at Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture, on June 24, 1992. The above photo was taken
in October 2013, and that below roughly seven years later.
(Photos: [top] J-HangarSpace; [above] JMSDF Tateyama, 21st Fleet Air Wing via Twitter @JMSDF_21aw)

The former JMSDF B-65P at the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan in May 2012.
(Miyuki Meinaka via Wikimedia Commons) 

All that remains of the second Beech B-65 delivered to the JMSDF is its nose section, which forms
part of the TC-90 instrument training display inside the PR centre at Tokushima.
(Photo [Aug. 2020]: Tokushima Air Training Group via Twitter @jmsdf_tsatg)

 The anonymous SNB-5 at Kanoya was one of the 35 that were transferred from the
U.S. Navy to the JMSDF in 1957. The type was phased out of service in 1966.

 First operated by the Maritime Guard in 1953, prior to the JMSDF’s formation, a dozen T-34A Mentors
saw service up until 1982. The aircraft initially displayed at Kanoya, shown above in November 2000,
was removed an replaced by lookalike 9012 (below) in 2004.
A YouTube video has been offering a walk around the aircraft since January 2013 [link].
(Photo [undated]: ふににvia Twitter @hunini181202, uploaded Mar. 2020)

The first ex-JMSDF TC-90 in full Philippine Navy markings. This aircraft was officially commissioned on
November 22, 2017, and followed by the second and third aircraft on March 18 and May 29, 2018,
respectively. All five aircraft are operated from the service’s Sangley Point base.
(Photo [January 2018]: The Philippine Fleet Facebook page)

The Tokushima gate guard TC-90 earns its keep by being used in a training exercise simulating
the recovery by crane of an aircraft that has been involved in an accident.
(Photo [Aug. 2020]: Tokushima Air Training Group via Twitter @jmsdf_tsatg)

A total of four R4D Skytrain aircraft were acquired in 1958.
The sole R4D-6Q ECM trainer has been on display at Kanoya since 1974. 

One of four wartime-production R4Ds acquired late in 1958, the sole R4D-6Q ECM trainer 9023 was placed on display at Kanoya in 1974, three years after it had been decommissioned with R4D-6 9024.

The other two aircraft, 9021 and 9022, were in at the start of the newly formed 61st FAS in December 1971 only to be decommissioned themselves in October of the following year, by which time one had clocked up 20,000 flight hours. Initially sold off to a U.S. company (as N62428 and N62427, respectively), both were later registered and coincidentally damaged beyond economic repair in non-fatal crashes in the Philippines: 9022 was being operated by Philair as RP-C287 when the aircraft suffered an engine failure on takeoff from Manila on December 13, 1983; 9021 was being flown as RP-C14 with Victoria Air when forced to ditch close to the shore at Barualite on November 15, 1989.

The KM-2 formerly displayed at the museum run by the Kota Tourism Association in Aichi Prefecture.
(Photo: ‘Lombroso’ [Oct. 2006] via Wikimedia Commons)

(Above and below) Delivered to the JMSDF in September 1963, 6243 was decommissioned in
December 1976 but still being used for display purposes at Ozuki in 1990 (link). Noted at a
scrap dealer near Hyakuri AB in 1996, the aircraft was bought from there by
the Old Car Center collection owners.
(Photos [Old Car Center KUDAN, Naraha, Dec. 2019]: Warren Hardcastle)

Fuji built a total of 64 KM-2 aircraft for the JMSDF; the type was in service from 1962 to 1998.
 The service career of this former 201st Naval Air Training Squadron Fuji KM-2 lasted from
November 1969 to May 1984.

Now, strangely, at the Onrakukan sound and light museum in Asakura, Fukuoka Prefecture, KM-2 6260
was originally taken on charge by the JMSDF on January 30, 1975. Retired from active service with the
201st Naval Air Training Squadron on May 22, 1989, the aircraft has been perched on the tower shown,
which is even fitted with caterpillar tracks (scroll down here [link] ), since at least 2005. For as yet
unknown reasons, KM-2 6272 is braced puppet-like from the ceiling and mounted on stands close
to showcases of antique audio equipment and other artefacts inside the building (link).
(Photo: Warren Hardcastle [April 2017]) 

Delivered on October 14, 1978, KM-2 6278 was finally retired from service with the 201st Naval
Air Training Squadron on March 31, 1993. At some point, the aircraft was placed on display at
the Hana no Ura facility for children with disabilities in Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
(Photo: Warren Hardcastle [April 2017])

The Ozuki KM-2 and T-5 amid the snow that fell in January 2021. The T-5 carries the special
markings (link) originally applied to 6341 in 2018 to mark the 150th anniversary of the
Meiji Restoration, as described in the Bulletin Board entry dated October 17 that year.
(Photo: Ozuki Air Training Group via Twitter @jmsdf_ozatg)

Reworked as a McKinnon G-21G Turbo Goose in 1970, the former JMSDF 9013 has graced the
EAA AirVenture event at Oshkosh with its presence on several occasions; this photo was
taken there in July 2012. (Photo: RuthAS via Wikimedia Commons)

The JMSDF Aviation Museum at Kanoya has been home to this Tracker since 1993; this photo was taken in
November 2000. As already noted, none of the Tracker’s stablemate predecessor, the
TBM-3 Avenger, was preserved for posterity.

(Photo [Apr. 2009]: ‘nattou’ via Wikimedia Commons)

(Photo [Nov. 2017]: Andy Binks)

Now displayed at Tokushima (below), Tracker 4150 unfolds its wings at Kanoya in March 1975. The
aircraft was then with the 11th Fleet Air Squadron, which had been its first posting after
being taken on charge on April 11, 1959. After its withdrawal from use on June 14, 1976,
4150 was displayed at the JMSDF’s Air Supply Depot (ASD) at Kisarazu, Chiba,
Prefecture, and moved from there to Tokushima around 1980.
(Photo: Takao Kadokami)

Included on the signboard next to Tokushima’s Tracker are some details about the type’s
association with the base, which dates back to the formation of the Tokushima Kōkūtai in
March 1958 and that unit’s reorganization as the 3rd Fleet Air Wing in September 1961.
(Photo [uploaded Aug. 2020]: Tokushima Air Training Group via Twitter @jmsdf_tsatg)

Of the 60 Trackers supplied by the United States under military grant assistance to the JMSDF between April 1957 and September 1959, it seems that only five remain in existence: three (including one wreck) in Japan, one in the United States and one other in South Korea. Sadly, the JMSDF did not pioneer the examples set by other air forces and civil operators—or take note of Kawasaki’s decision to go-ahead with its own P-2J Turbo-Neptune development—by converting its many stored Trackers to turboprop power.

In the manner of the coverage given to the JGSDF’s LM-1s, J-HangarSpace here attempts to track down those Trackers that from the late 1970s were selected for, and in some cases did not quite make it to, a new lease of life as air tankers in the United States.

The 11 Trackers listed in the table below are those that were earmarked for sale and conversion into air tankers for operations in Alaska but became embroiled in a legal battle. A summary of the background to their fate continues below.

In the 1970s, a corporation known as Native Alaskan Reclamation & Pest Control, Inc. (NAR-PC) was contracted to the U.S. government and State of Alaska to conduct aerial firefighting operations. Having heard in mid-1977 that the Japanese had 11 Trackers up for sale, NAR-PC chief executive officer and principal shareholder Lester Risley flew to Japan in September 1977 to inspect the aircraft, which had originally been supplied to Japan under military grant assistance terms in the late 1950s. The plan was to carry out the minimum refurbishment work necessary to enable them to be flown from Japan to Taiwan, where they would be converted for use in firefighting operations and fully overhauled by Air Asia, Ltd., and then flown onward to the United States. Following his visit, Risley submitted a bid in October 1977, which was accepted by the U.S. government in mid-January 1978.

Three Faces of Tracker 4108

The eighth S2F-1 delivered to the JMSDF, 4108 is seen here looking smart in its former operational
guise at Fukuoka airport in September 1964. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

One of those initially earmarked for a new career in Alaska, 4108 is the nearest aircraft in this scene at
Kanoya’s dump in April 1978, where several Trackers were, as it then turned out vainly, awaiting
shipment and transfer to the U.S. civil register.  (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

J-HangarSpace will be endeavouring to find out how this Tracker (formerly the same 4108
seen in the previous two images)—alone of those that were at one time destined for service
in Alaska—somehow found its way to the War Memorial of Korea instead.
(Photo [Aug. 2017]: ‘Baylon Greyjoy’ via Wikimedia Commons)

The total cost of refurbishing and converting all 11 Trackers was estimated at $1.2 million. In the meantime, Risley had sought and, so he thought, secured financial backing from United Bank Alaska (UBA), and the two parties signed a standard loan agreement at the end of January 1978, in which it was apparently initially stipulated that the aircraft would be subject to forfeiture if not removed by mid-March. The basic plan here was to use the phased arrival of each operational aircraft in the United States as collateral against those that were to follow.

In mid-April 1978, funds were committed to Air Asia in Taiwan in the form of a letter of credit, which was to expire on June 30, 1978. It was about this time that the project began to hit at first mild turbulence.

The discovery that the aircraft had been subjected to parts cannibalization while in JMSDF service, and would therefore require the fitting of operable parts, incurred unexpected additional costs. Also encountering delays due to problems with Japanese customs, which were not resolved until late April, it was not until mid-May that several of the aircraft were ready to be ferried to Taiwan.

Another Lucky Escapee, Tracker 4111

The former 4111, which was destined not to become State of Alaska tanker #174, at
Kanoya in April 1978. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

(Above and below) Valued J-HangarSpace contributor Takao Kadokami was to encounter the former
4111 again. In around October 1980, he photographed the very same Tracker, which even then
was already in a sorry state and for some reason had Thunder & Lightning written on the nose.
Tending to indicate that this was a decommissioned former Kanoya-based JMSDF aircraft, the
unlikely location was the grounds of Riken Hospital in Yamaga (now part of the city of Kitsushi),
Oita Prefecture, which seemed to be used as a repository for the aircraft collection owned by
a Mr. Uchida, the director of the related Fujimi Hospital in Beppu. The Tracker had 
been moved, destination unknown, by the summer of 1981.
(Photos: Takao Kadokami)

Seen here in August 2014, the aircraft has been a long-term resident at the
Zero Fighter Museum (Kawaguchiko Aviation Hall).

Ill-fated Tracker at Kanoya, April 1978

Then seeming set to be taken to Taiwan for conversion to an airtanker, the former 4117 awaits its
fate at Kanoya in April 1978. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

It was early June 1978 when UBA dropped its bombshell by announcing that it had changed its mind and was refusing to honour the loan agreement. To cut a long story short, Risley and NAR-PC desperately sought alternative sources of financing from other banks, the State of Alaska and private as well as institutional investors, all to no avail. At the end of July 1978, the aircraft were forfeited and the U.S government refunded part of their purchase price to Risley, who passed the refunded amount to UBA in part-payment of NAR-PC’s loan.

After a lawsuit and settlement between Risley and the U.S. government, Risley was given a second opportunity to purchase the Trackers at the original price. Under this second bid, Risley had until January 23, 1979, to remove the aircraft. Still unable to secure financing, Risley again forfeited his interest in the aircraft and incurred additional financial damages; all 11 aircraft were repossessed by the U.S. Navy at that time. After this failure to obtain refinancing, NAR-PC filed for breach of contract against UBA in September 1978, which prompted counterclaims from UBA and set in train a lengthy legal dispute.

Away from the court battles, which dragged on until 1984, the fate of the Trackers was sealed and all except two were sold and disposed of as scrap. How one of those survivors, as an item of U.S. property, came to be placed on display at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul is worthy of further investigation to complete the story. As revealed in the three-photo sequence above, the fuselage of the other aircraft languishes in the open air at the Zero Fighter Museum (Kawaguchiko Aviation Hall) in Yamanashi Prefecture (link).

(For anyone interested in the finer points of what seems to have been a seminal aviation breach of contract case, an Internet search for “Native Alaskan Reclamation & Pest Control” provides pointers to several legal case studies.)

Predating the State of Alaska’s unfortunate experience, California had obtained an initial batch of 19 Trackers from U.S. Department of Defense surplus stocks in 1972. Previously held at the then Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center at Davis-Monthan AB in Arizona, these were ferried to the fire attack base at Fresno to serve as standardized replacements for part of California’s ageing motley fleet. The first Tracker “borate bombers” entered service in 1973, and the addition of more under lease agreements between the State of California and the U.S. Navy was given added impetus by a spate of accidents that befell other types in that and the following year. A total of 55 U.S. Navy-surplus, piston-engine Trackers was eventually procured, and contracts covering single-pilot Tracker operations were concluded with four companies.

The ultimately Arizona-bound 4113, with the less fortunate, Alaska-assigned N208AK, the former
4155, in the background. Note the graffito One Piece at a Time with initials on the nose, possibly
written by the same person that had tagged 4111. (Photo [Kanoya, Apr. 1978]: Takao Kadokami) 

One of those California companies, Hemet Valley Flying Services, was to acquire at least five former JMSDF aircraft (4104, 4118, 4126, 4127 and 4146) as nets were cast far and wide in the search for airworthy aircraft and, of increasing importance, spares. As is related below, although never placed on the U.S. register or even converted to airtanker configuration, 4146 is still serving a useful purpose.

In 1986, Arizona-based Marsh Aviation was under contract to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (later simply referred to as CAL FIRE) to convert S2F-1s from piston engine to turboprop power. In likewise scouring the world for airframes and parts, this company became a major repository of ex-JMSDF aircraft, and photos of its facility at Falcon Field in Mesa even show wings taken from Royal Australian Navy aircraft.

Of the at least 13 ex-JMSDF aircraft acquired, it seems that only two, 4139 and 4147, flew again, as N736MA and N746MA, respectively. As tanker #154, the former retained its piston engines, but the latter underwent conversion as the first production Turbo-Tracker and saw front-line service as tanker #155. Beginning with a photo of the ex-U.S. Navy S-2A that was the prototype Turbo-Tracker, this webpage (link) provides some great photos of the Marsh Aviation storage facility May 2009, when no fewer than 11 of the 14 sun-bleached Trackers present were former JMSDF aircraft.

The above photo was taken at the California Department of Forestry’s airtanker base at Hemet-Ryan
Airport in June 1990. These two ex-JMSDF Trackers, 4118 and 4127, are parked behind a barrier
 of wings, which includes those from one of the JMSDF’s S2F-U Tracker target tugs. They seem
to have been (literally) thrown in as part of a cheap job lot of spares. (Photo: Akira Watanabe)

When the two ex-JMSDF Trackers ceased flying is not yet known, but they were among the 11 that were still present in varying degrees of disrepair at Mesa-Falcon Field in September 2014; only 4136 and 4138 had already passed into history in around 2007.

THE AIRTANKER THAT NEVER WAS – CDF #70 (JMSDF 4146)

The same aircraft, the same photographer, 17 years later.(Photos: [top] Kanoya, March 1973;
[above] Hemet-Ryan Airport, California, June 1990: Akira Watanabe)

The anonymous aircraft closest to the camera in the above photo—out of shot at the end of the line in the previous colour image—is today the sole survivor of the Trackers that did manage to make it to the United States, either for conversion to and operation as airtankers or merely to serve as sources of spare parts.

As 4146, its previous identity, this aircraft was commissioned with the JMSDF on March 12, 1959. Acquired in October 1983 by Hemet Valley Flying Service, which was to cease operations in 1997, the aircraft was acquired purely for spares and never received a U.S. civil registration. Initially stored at Compton in California, where it was noted in November 1983, the aircraft was already derelict when seen at Hemet-Ryan Airport a decade later in May 1993. Granted a reprieve in 2001, a restoration was carried out to enable the aircraft to stand on display, opposite the Hemet Fire Attack Base, in the Lloyd M. Venable Memorial Park, where a plaque reads: Dedicated in memory of Lloyd M. Venable – A pioneer in the aviation industry – Founder of Hemet Valley Flying Service – 1946. Born Oct. 3, 1906 – Died Feb. 1, 1991

Despite only having been flown operationally in Japan, the former 4146 has been granted pride of
place at the Lloyd M. Venable Memorial Park, opposite the Hemet Fire Attack Base in California.
(Photo: David D. Jackson, who runs the very visit-worthy Warbirds and Airshows website [link])

The aircraft itself (above, photographed in 2009) has had a plaque added beneath the cockpit on the left side. This is dedicated to Floyd W. Waklee, who was an equipment engineer with the California Division of Forestry (CDF) in the late 1950s and rose to become its chief air operations officer.

SUCCESSFUL CONVERT – TRACKER 4147

(Photo: Takao Kadokami) 

Seen above at Kanoya in March 1981, 4147 was delivered in 1958, reportedly mothballed for a time in the mid-70s and one of those sold in the United States. After the end of its JMSDF career, the veteran airframe went from this (link) in October 1986 to a new lease of life as this (link) in April 1999, having been the first production example of the six Marsh Aviation converted to Turbo-Tracker standard for the California State Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Albeit minus its engines, this aircraft was still present at Marsh’s Falcon Field facility in Mesa, Arizona, in 2013 (link) and in September 2014, alongside the remains of several of its former JMSDF companions.

(Above and below) The first production Turbo-Tracker, tanker #155 at Ramona Air Attack Base,
California, in 1998. The last recorded sighting of this ex-JMSDF aircraft’s by then engineless
presence at Falcon Field was in September 2014.
(Photo: SoCal Air Operations via Twitter @SocalAirOps)

For the sake of completeness, J-HangarSpace provides a list (below) of those JMSDF Trackers that were lost as a result of operational accidents.

A particularly tragic incident was the collision between an 11th Sqn aircraft and a 101st Sqn Sea King on January 16, 1967, which claimed the lives of a total of 10 crew members. Heading an article on The Mainichi Newspapers website that marked the 50th anniversary of the accident in 2017, this photo (link) shows the scene the following day as a fleet of vessels and aircraft—including the Mainichi-owned aircraft from which the photo was taken—searched the area off the coast of Tokushima. The article reports that the previous day’s ill-fated anti-submarine warfare training exercise had gone ahead despite Tokushima having experienced its first major snowfall in 22 years.

Further searching of Japanese Internet sources revealed the name of one of the Tracker pilots as being Ieoki Fukuchi, whose then six-year-old son Eihiro went on to become a well-known actor and singer with the stage name Show Aikawa.

Though born in Japan, Ieoki Fukuchi had spent some of his formative years in what was then Japanese-controlled Manchuria, to where the family had migrated to start a new life during the Showa Depression of the early 1930s. Suffering from pleurisy, he had returned to Japan in 1940 and had ended up enrolling at Waseda University in Tokyo. After graduation, he had joined the JMSDF’s predecessor, the Keibitai (Coastal Security Force), and worked his way up via postings to Iwakuni, Utsunomiya and Tateyama to becoming a Tracker captain.

Show Aikawa’s boyhood memory of that tragic day, recalled for a Family History TV series programme devoted to his life in October 2016, is of suddenly seeing his father’s name appear on the TV screen during a meal.

One of those destined to end its days in Arizona, 4116 leads a 10-wing salute. (Photo: JMSDF)

This evocative blog photo (link) features a photo of Tracker 4113 having its engines run up at Kanoya in January 1984, two months before the type was decommissioned. One of those that ended its days in California, the aircraft is kicking up a thin layer of ash courtesy Sakurajima, the volcano that lies only 50km northwest of the base.

(Photo [Kanoya, April 2017]: Hunini via Wikimedia Commons)

Another Grumman type to see service with the JMSDF and then in U.S. civil aviation circles was the UF-2 Albatross amphibian, examples of which have ended up from time to rime at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona, like the Trackers before them.

Six brand-new aircraft, the last of the type to emerge from Grumman’s Bethpage, New York, factory, were lease transferred and assigned U.S. Navy serials for contractual purposes. The first two were delivered to the JMSDF over at Alameda NAS in California on February 17, 1961, and the remaining four transported by sea, thus the aircraft arrived in Japan between April and July 1961. Crew training was likewise conducted on opposite sides of the country, at Grumman’s Long Island facility and the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station at San Diego.

Designated UF-2s, the aircraft were equivalent to the U.S. Air Force’s SA-16B but in the JMSDF’s case had uprated engines. Assigned to the Omura Kōkūtai, they provided search and rescue aircraft cover until officially decommissioned on March 31, 1976, though a gradual rundown had commenced in September 1974 following the introduction of the US-1 and ongoing increases in the numbers of HSS-2 Sea Kings; the last UF-2 (9056) had been taken out of service 10 days before, on March 21, 1976.

With the help of Internet sources, using Joe Baugher’s opus (link) as a starting point, it has been possible to essentially piece together the up to 40-year peripatetic existence of the five aircraft that were struck off charge. Sadly not among them was 9051, which had crashed in the mountainous Horoizumi district of Hokkaido Prefecture on July 29, 1965, with the loss of all seven of her crew members.

The ill-fated first aircraft, photographed at Ozuki in November 1963. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

As the table above shows, all the remaining aircraft found their way on to the U.S. register, initially to the well-known Miami seaplane operator, Chalk’s International. Pre-departure overhauls were carried out by Shin Meiwa (now ShinMaywa), which had built up its expertise over many years of U.S. Navy maintenance contracts. The first three UF-2s, the former 9052, 9053 and 9055, were handed over to their new owner and departed Omura on August 10, 1976, arriving in Miami on August 30. The other two aircraft followed suit together on November 21 and December 9, respectively, that year. They were finished in Chalk’s standard Albatross colour scheme with the company name on the nose and a special door on the front of the fuselage.

Assisting in their longevity, Grumman worked with Resorts International/Chalk’s to convert all five to G-111 civil standard, which involved the installation of improved systems, a galley and 29 seats, one of which was for a flight attendant, between 1979 and 1982; in fact N112FB (the former 9055) was the first of a total of 13 such conversions. Flown for the first time on February 13, 1979, the aircraft was displayed at the Paris-Le Bourget Air Salon in 1981 in a bid to drum up more conversion business.

Reportedly struck off charge on July 31, 1975, eight months before the type’s official
decommissioning, 9052 departs JASDF Nyutabaru AB in November 1974. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

Two changes of identity later, what had been 9052 was sighted at Fort Lauderdale in November 1983 (link). The latest (January 2017) owner is listed as Barron Aviation LLC of Perry, Missouri, a company that specializes in converting aircraft for skydiving operations and also reportedly owns JA112B (ex-9055). Images of  JA116FB appear at the start of a sequence of Cessna 172 photos on the top row of the company’s website gallery (link).

9053 at its home base of Omura in June 1975. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

Now N117FB, the former 9053 takes off from Miami Harbor, March 1987. The same aircraft is seen
here approaching (link) and being given the gun (link) to climb the slipway at Bimini Lagoon in
the Bahamas in the same month. (Photo: RuthAS via Wikimedia Commons)

9054 overflies JASDF Tsuiki AB in November 1974. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

(Above and below) Bimini Island in the Bahamas, November 1995. The photographer of the former
9054 had just come in on the aircraft on a service from Chalk’s base at Watson Island in Miami.
(Photos: calflier001 via Wikimedia Commons)

9055 heads along a taxiway at Fukuoka Airport in August 1966. When delivered the aircraft had
been painted primarily dark grey overall with dayglo rear fuselage bands and lacked nose numbers.
The latter were added and, in the late 1960s, white upper surfaces gradually adopted to make the
aircraft more visible and help cool their interiors on hot days. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

As the first aircraft to fly following it conversion to G-111 civil standard, what had once been 9055 was the aircraft that appeared at the Paris-Le Bourget Air Salon in 1981 as N112FB. The aircraft was then returned to its daily routine, as evidenced by this photo of one of its arrivals at the Miami Seaplane Base, the former Watson Island Seaplane Airport, way back in April 1982 (link).

(Above and below) 9056 on a wet day at JASDF Ashiya AB in September 1975 and as she looked as
VH-NMO at Jandakot Airport in Western Australia, in November 2014. Restrictions placed on
Catalina Airlines operations from the airport resulted in the aircraft’s base
being moved to Avalon, Victoria, in December 2016.
(Photos: [top] Takao Kadokami; [above] Alec Wilson via Wikimedia Commons)

(Photo [Omura, June 1975]: Takao Kadokami)

Delivered in March 1979, the Kawasaki P-2J Turbo-Neptune displayed at Kanoya was the last of a 
a total of 83 aircraft operated without loss by the JMSDF. The aircraft is shown in November 2000
(above) and September 2007. The nose section of 4770 is on display inside the facility. 
(Photo: masamic via Wikimedia Commons)

One of the original exhibits at the then newly opened Kakamigahara Aerospace Museum in March 1996,
P-2J 4782 was already showing signs of wear when this photo was taken in
October 2000; the aircraft was subsequently repainted.

The abbreviation ‘3MSS’ on the fuselage stands for 3rd MSDF Service School, the
badge of which is carried on the tailfin (below).
(Photos taken at Shimofusa AB, September 2012) 

Kawasaki-Lockheed P-3C Orion 5033

(Above and below) The aircraft nearest the camera in the above photo, P-3C 5033 was one of the
the 203rd Air Training Squadron aircraft that participated in the traditional New Year formation
flight training in January 2018. Having done the rounds of frontline units, what was to prove to
be the aircraft’s last posting, to the 203rd at Shimofusa, seems to have commenced in 2014.
(Photos: JMSDF Shimofusa AB)

At some stage after that starring New Year flight role, the aircraft was, like many of its predecessors,
taken out of operational service to fulfill a less glamorous but no less essential ground training role.
(Photos: JMSDF Shimofusa Air Training Group via Twitter @jmsdf_smatg)

In 5033’s case, the airframe was used to provide tuition in the techniques needed to evacuate the
aircraft when the emergency exits cannot be used, namely by breaking through the
fuselage from the inside or outside.
(Photos: JMSDF Shimofusa Air Training Group via Twitter @jmsdf_smatg)

The above Already Gone table was prompted by the appearance of these images showing the recent
demise of P-3C 5033, which had come to the end of its training use. After cannibalization for
parts, the operator of a mechanical grabber unceremoniously delivers the coups de grace
and then loads the remains onto the back of a waiting scrap dealer’s truck.
(Photos: JMSDF Shimofusa Air Training Group via Twitter @jmsdf_smatg)

 The JMSDF operated a total of 64 P2V-7 (P-2H) Neptune patrol aircraft over the period from early 1956 to
1981. The first 16 were transferred from the U.S. Navy, and the remainder either assembled or
manufactured by Kawasaki in Japan. The Kanoya example was one of those delivered in
component knocked down form.
(Photos: [top] J-HangarSpace, Nov. 2000; [above] masamic via Wikimedia Commons, Sept. 2007)

The JMSDF started operations with a motley collection of U.S. Navy “hand-me-downs” that
included a number of SNJ-5 basic trainers, a total of 52 of which entered service up to 1965.
Photographed in November 2000, this is the example (6180) that was then displayed at the
JMSDF Museum in Kanoya. Damaged by a typhoon, in 2019 the aircraft was acquired by the
group that runs the Uzurano Airfield Museum, which features a replica Shiden-kai fighter. 

Handed over to the JMSDF on April 14, 1956, SNJ-6 6182 was retired on June 8, 1963, and passed for
instructional purposes to the 3rd MSDF Service School at Shimofusa, Chiba Prefecture, in 1968.
Acquired by the Oita City hospital that had already acquired F-86F ‘62-7437’ bearing the name
Lindbergh—that of a restaurant in Fukuoka City owned by an aviation enthusiast—the aircraft was at
some stage moved to its final known location at Nippon Bunri University, also in Oita.
(Photo: Warren Hardcastle [April 2017])

Two loaned ex-JMSDF SNJs are to be found in cities in Chiba Prefecture. That shown above is on
the site of what from September 1944 was the wartime Katori air base in Asahi City; that below
is located in Kamagaya’s Shiseikinenkōen, the park that commemorates
the former town of Kamagaya having been granted city status in 1971.
(Photos [undated]: Chiba SDF Provincial Cooperation Office website [link] accessed Dec. 27, 2020)

Previously through to have been SNJ-6 6196, the SNJ-5 at Naval Air Facility Atsugi was restored 
and repainted in what are reportedly its original markings (as 6165) in 2019.
For more information, see Bulletin Board for January 2020. (Photo: NAF Atsugi via Facebook)

From a tethered, almost barn find-like existence as a ground instructional airframe, like 3MSS-08
pictured here at Shimofusa in October 1976 (above) . . .
. . . 3MSS-04 (JMSDF SNJ-5 6193) escaped to become barnstorming N1038A, such as here at the
12th annual airshow at Apple Valley Airport, California, in October 2013.
(Photos: [top] Takao Kadokami; [above] Tomás Del Coro via Wikimedia Commons)

The former JMSDF SNJ-5 6199 being put through its paces as N89013 at the Thunder Over the
Boardwalk airshow held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in August 2014. YouTube footage of the
display can be viewed here (link). (Photo: Sam Pastorella via Twitter @LTPSGamePhotos)

Charmed Existence: JMSDF SNJ-5 6208

A close look at the U.S. Air Force pickup in the background places this image way before the digital
camera era. What had once been JMSDF SNJ-5 6208 was recorded for posterity as N9012Y at
Beale AFB, California, in September 1984. (Photo: William T. Larkins via Wikimedia Commons)

According to snippets of information, some of which were gleaned from Geoff Goodall’s Aviation History Site (link), Kawasaki conducted the pre-delivery overhaul of SNJ-5 6208 in August 1957, and the aircraft was retired after having amassed 7,735 flying hours in January 1965. The aircraft had thus already been in store for some 12 years when disposed of as surplus by the U.S. government and for 14 years when listed on the U.S. civil register, as N9012Y, in February 1979.

Having passed through the hands of three U.S. owners, the aircraft was exported to the UK in 2012, registered to The Warplane Flying Company, and flown for the first time there on November 2 that year. The company’s Facebook page (link) includes footage from pleasure flights. Other interesting photos on the Internet show G-CHIA naked in a hangar in May 2017 (link) and belching flames on start-up (link).

The header photo from The Warplane Flying Company’s Facebook page (link) shows the former
JMSDF SNJ-5, which is operated by Chiltern Classic Flight Ltd., in flight over typically English
countryside still resplendent in its U.S. Navy markings.

A sister aircraft to 6208 (now G-CHIA), 6210 sits forlornly at JMSDF Ozuki AB in May 1976.
With the scrapyard looming, rescue in the form of shipment to the United States (as N2266W)
was also to come for this aircraft, in May 1978. Still current in July 2020, this 1944-vintage
aircraft has been registered to the same owner in Virginia for more than 30 years (link).
(Photo: Takao Kadokami)

This October 1976 photo shows 6175 at Shimofusa, where the aircraft has since remained.
(Photo: Takao Kadokami) 

Another extreme case of the fate that eluded those former JMSDF SNJs that made it to runways new
in the United States and UK. One of the first five to have been accepted for service by the JMSDF
in 1954, the former 201st Air Training Squadron SNJ-5 6164 was retired around 1966 and placed
on display at Ozuki, where the aircraft has amazingly remained to this day.
(Photo [Ozuki, May 1982]: Takao Kadokami

One of the three remaining PS-1s, 5813 was handed over to the JMSDF in December 1973 and
withdrawn from operational use in September 1985. 
(Photo [Iwakuni, Apr. 2014]: Rob Schleiffert via Wikimedia Commons) 

A distant view of Iwakuni PS-1 5813 on a misty morning in February 2021
(Photo: Seagull-jap via Twitter @miejapan4)

In stark contrast to the Iwakuni image, this highlights the dreadful condition of the PS-1 at the
Sea Doughnut Aquarium, an aircraft that might well have already been put out of its misery.
In 2018, following the JMSDF’s August 2017 decision as owner to scrap the aircraft,
J-HangarSpace contacted the facility and was told that the aircraft was due to be
removed by March 2019. (Photo [Sept. 2019]: BKR via Twitter @nite103)

The only PS-1 that it is possible to board looks forlornly out so sea. Although the surrounding
trees are cut back occasionally, the aircraft itself is nowadays in more need of TLC rather than BLC.
(Photos [uploaded Nov. 2020]: しーな via Twitter @flyingship1938)

 Originally a U.S. Navy Grumman Albatross supplied to the JMSDF, the UF-XS served as a technology
demonstrator for the boundary layer control (BLC) system fitted to its larger ShinMaywa aircraft
cousins following its first flight on December 25, 1962. The aircraft has been on
display at Kakamigahara since March 1996.

A total of 20 US-1 and US-1A rescue amphibians were drip fed to the JMSDF over the 30 years from 1975
to 2005; none remain in service. Preserved at Kanoya, the example shown here was delivered as a US-1 in
February 1981 and, following conversion to US-1A standard in 1986, continued in service until
November 1993. Taken 20 years later, the photo below offers a comparison of the aivraft’s condition. 
(Photos: [top, Nov. 2000] J-HangarSpace; [above, 2020] しーな via Twitter @flyingship1938)

The service career of the Kakamigahara US-1A spanned 15 years, from 1983 to 1995. (Photo: Oct. 2000)

Helicopters

NOTABLE ABSENTEES 2/2

The first equipment received after the JMSDF’s formation were the initial deliveries in 1958 of partly U.S. Navy-financed, Mitsubishi-assembled Sikorsky HSS-1s, which were also the service’s first genuine anti-submarine helicopters. Despite holding that place in the annals of JMSDF history, none of the eight HSS-1s and nine HSS-1Ns remain. The type having been withdrawn from active service in March 1975, the last example (HSS-1N 8569) served for some time as a gate guard at Tateyama. Still present in October 2002, when this photo (link) and that above were taken, it is thought that the aircraft was removed soon thereafter to make way for a change of the guard.

(Photo taken at Iwakuni, Sept. 2012)

After 28 years’ service that had commenced in 1989, those remaining of the original 11-aircraft Sikorsky MH-53E fleet were decommissioned as recently as March 3, 2017 (see Bulletin Board report). Bringing the curtain down on the service career of arguably the most impressive helicopter ever to have seen SDF service, the last flight had been completed on February 20 that year.

From having been the two representatives feted at the decommissioning ceremony, 8625 (see above) and 8631 were photographed (link) on the sidelines of the Iwakuni Friendship Day event in May 2017, two months after they had been made redundant.

The 111th Sqn that had operated the type was mentioned in dispatches in particular for its crucial airlift efforts in response to the Hanshin and Great East Japan earthquakes of 1995 and 2011, respectively. The unit’s profile was also raised by having been responsible for transporting former U.S. President George W. Bush between Iwo To and Chichijima when on a private visit in June 2002. Tragically, the type’s operational achievements had not been without human cost. All eight crew members perished when aircraft 8626 was forced to ditch during a minesweeping training exercise in Sagami Bay in June 1995.

The winding down of the fleet had started by September 2013, when 8627 was seen under cover at Iwakuni (link). In the end, photographic evidence shows that five of them did not have to wait long to be repatriated to provide spares to sustain the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps fleets.

Two (8629 and 8630) departed Iwakuni on board a U.S. Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy on June 9, 2017. Another three (8623, 8628 and the aforementioned 8631) were loaded aboard the commercial vehicle transporter Green Lake, which had again conveniently been able to dock directly at Iwakuni, on July 18, 2017.

As reported at scramble.nl, subsequent sigtings have been: 8621/3/8 at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, in May 2018; 8625/31 at MCAS Miramar in January 2021; and 8629/30 at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Montan AFB, Arizona, in October 2020.

(Photo [Iwakuni, June 9, 2017]: U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Joseph Abrego)

Taken at the port of Iwakuni on July 18, 2017, this photo shows 8623 being loaded on board the
Green Lake. As was the case in May 2016 (link), following its decommissioning, the aircraft
has a tail from the JMSDF’s own spares box that had at one stage been fitted to 8625.
(Photo: U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Stephen Campbell)

A report on the Seapower Magazine website in October 2020 announced the completion of the parts reclamation programme from JMSDF sources. A U.S. Navy public affairs officer was quoted as having said that the service had procured four JMSDF MH-53Es, two in 2016 and two in 2017. The removal and refurbishing of the parts from these aircraft had been outsourced to a well-known name in the helicopter industry, Oregon-based Erickson Inc., where stored examples of U.S. MH-53s were being overhauled and returned to service.

A USA Military Channel YouTube video (link) was shot on the day that at the C-5M arrived at
Iwakuni to collect two of the MH-53Es that had been purchased by the U.S. Navy for spares.
These two aircraft were Arizona bound (see below).

Looking like a Mondrian-influenced art installation, as was pointed out in a
comment on this photo, 8630 was with 8629 sitting in storage under
the Arizona sun at Davis-Monthan AFB in October 2020.
(Photo: U.S. Air Force/309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group via Facebook)

(Above and below) Though the JMSDF’s MH-53E fleet is no more, some “new old” U.S. Navy
aircraft like these are now back flying with the help of parts specially imported from Japan.(Photos: Erickson Inc. website gallery page)

*********************************

Since 1993, HSS-2B 8105 has been quietly hidden at the JMSDF’s Yura supply facility in the port
town of the same name in Wakayama Prefecture. In November 2020, however, the Ministry 
of Defense requested bids from contractors for the aircraft’s removal, the work to be
completed by March 19, 2021. (Photo [Aug. 2017]: Opqr via Wikimedia Commons)

 Having in 1954 taken over the four Bell 47D-1s operated by its Maritime Guard forerunner, the JMSDF
went on to acquire a further 11 Bell 47s. The last example was retired from active service in 1995.
(Photo taken in November 2000)

 One of the three OH-6Js operated by the JMSDF’s 202nd Naval Air Training Squadron from 1973.
(Photo taken in November 2000)

 The KV-107II on display at Kanoya was the penultimate aircraft of nine delivered to the
JMSDF from 1963 and operated until 1988. (Photo taken in November 2000)

 

(Above) A total of 167 examples of the Mitsubishi-built HSS-2 helicopter served with the JMSDF in
three variants 1964–2003. The aircraft shown are on display at (from top to bottom):
Kanoya (the last survivor of 28 HSS-2As, Nov. 2000), HSS-2B at Tateyama (Oct. 2013, see
bwlow for a more up-to-date image), and the Ishikawa Aviation Plaza HSS-2B (Sept. 2001).

The Ishikawa Aviation Plaza HSS-2B again, this time minus its tail rotor, in March 2019
(Photo: Alan Wilson via Wikimedia Commons)

(Photos [above and below, then in the company of T-34A 9009 q.v.]:
‘Aomorikuma’ (Aomori Bear) via Wikimedia Commons, June 2009)
When photographed above and in May 2015 (link), the Ohminato HSS-2B was still clearly 8167,
the last of the type delivered to the JMSDF. At some stage in 2018 or 2019, the aircraft’s serial
number was changed to 8162. Formerly 8249, the SH-60J (below) seems likewise to have
been changed to “8225”, though that might have something to do with the 25th FAS being
in residence at the base. Even T-34A 9009 had masqueraded as 9025 before its removal.(Photo [Dec. 2020]: JMSDF Ohminato Regional Headquarters via Twitter @jmsdf_orh)

Dated July 1991, the sign adjacent to the MHI Komaki Sea King (8084 and, coincidentally, the first 
of 84 HSS-2Bs) states that a total of 167 of the three variants of the type were produced at the
plant between March 1964 and March 1990. There were plans for the demolition of the old
building in the background, which had previously housed the museum collection relocated
to the company’s Oe Plant, so the aircraft outside may well be moved, at least temporarily.
(Photo taken in Feb. 2014)

(Photo [Oct. 2020]: JMSDF Tateyama, 21st Fleet Air Wing via Twitter @JMSDF_21aw)

Another view of the Yura supply base naval base, showing the HSS-2B (8105) that is hopefully
planned for replacement by an SH-60J in the course of 2021.
(Photo [undated]: SDF Wakayama Provincial Cooperation Office website, accessed Feb. 10, 2021)

Already devoid of rotors, the JMSDF Yura supply base HSS-2B seen from ground level at its home
of 28 years. The コ (ko) on its tail indicates that the aircraft was last actively assigned
to Komatsushima. The photo was taken in November 2020, the month in which the
Ministry of Defense initiated plans for the aircraft’s removal by mid-March 2021.
(Photo: Uni via Twitter @Uni99846305)

Extended Second Career: Shichinohe HSS-2 8165

(Photo [from May 2019]: From AOMORI-MIRYOKU (Aomori Charm)
tourism promotion website [link], accessed Feb. 10, 2021)

Signed by the village mayor and dated January 2004, the sign adjacent to HSS-2 8165 states that the aircraft was manufactured in February 1990 and had an operational career that lasted until June 13, 2013, a comparatively short 13 years and five months later.

Initially taken on charge by the 122nd FAS, the aircraft was with the Ohminato Squadron when finally decommissioned in October 2003 and provided on loan for the usual promotional/aspirational display purposes from January the following year. The chosen location was in the central park of what was then the Aomori Prefecture village of Tenmabayashi. The aircraft remains there, but the village itself no longer exists, having been merged with the neighbouring town of Shichinohe in March 2005. Meanwhile, the length of 8165’s PR career has far surpassed its flying career.

Note on what was the sole surviving standard HSS-2, 8017: Although still advertised, albeit as a “retired coast guard helicopter”, on a Shikoku tourism website (link), this the last of the 55 original standard HSS-2s had been removed from the Tatara Shimanami Park restaurant at a highway rest area in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, by 2016 (link).

 Photographed in October 2013, the Tateyama S-61A-1 shown at the head of this page from a different
angle. As there was no open day there in 2020, the base relesed the image below of the
now somewhat weathered aircraft.
(Photo [Oct. 2020]: JMSDF Tateyama, 21st Fleet Air Wing via Twitter @JMSDF_21aw)

On display inside the Kanoya museum is the front fuselage of the first of 13 Mitsubishi-built S-61AHs.

The Mitsubishi-built S-62J that remains on loan at a park in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture.
(Photo [undated]: Chiba SDF Provincial Cooperation Office website [link] accessed Dec. 27, 2020)

The signboard next to Tokushima’s S-62J gate guard states that the type was introduced at the
base in November 1968 to replace the S-55A and itself superseded by the S-61 in April 1985.
(Photo [Aug. 2020]: Tokushima Air Training Group via Twitter @jmsdf_tsatg)

(Above and below) One of the first examples of a Mitsubishi-built Sikorsky SH-60J to be withdrawn from
active service, 8221 has been a long-term resident at Tateyama.
(Photos: [top, Oct. 2013] J-HangarSpace; [above, Oct. 2020] JMSDF Tateyama,
21st Fleet Air Wing via Twitter @JMSDF_21aw)

Aside from serving as a recruitment tool in the JMSDF base city of Nagasaki, this SH-60J is
intended to lure customers to a local farm produce and pickles store.
(Photo [uploaded Dec. 2020]: Q州の一匹狼 via Twitter @yuki800811)

Omura Base Squadron firefighters conduct a training drill on a recycled SH-60J helicopter
(possibly 8256). (Photo [undated]: JMSDF 22nd Air Wing via Twitter @JMSDF_22aw)

Immaculate Imposter: Komatsushima SH-60J “8224”

A series of four fine images from 2017/18 that show the, for a gate guard, unusually lavish tail paint scheme applied to the gate guard at Komatsushima, which had marked the unit’s 50th anniversary in 2015 (see the Squadron History page for a close up of the large fuselage marking). In the manner of the 25th FAS at Ohminato, the resident 24th FAS had decided that the “last two” of the aircraft on the gate simply had to match the squadron number, so 8273 was duly repainted.

The aircraft features a pixelated design on its rear fuselage. Note that the words Helicopter
Anti-Submarine Squadron 24 appear on the engine cover.
(Photo [July 2017]: フランカー [‘Flanker’] via Twitter @kh840124)

Picturesquely posed among the pine trees, one report suggests that the aircraft has since been
moved to a different location on the base. SHADOW is the 24th FAS’s radio call sign.
(Photo [July 2017]: フランカー [‘Flanker’] via Twitter @kh840124)

(Photo [July 2018]: 洗濯屋 KEN-Z via Twitter @UNICORNZeroOne)

A low-viz version of the golden jubilee marking (see Squadron Histories page) has been
applied to the side of SH-60J 8273, which masquerades as 8244.
(Photo [July 2017]: フランカー [‘Flanker’] via Twitter @kh840124)

One of reportedly two SH-60Js in use for instructional purposes at Shimofusa, 8206 forms a key
part of a rig designed for ground-based rescue training.
(Photo [Oct. 2020]: Air Training Command via Twitter @jmsdf_atrc)

SH-60J 8263 sits derelict next to a wing from a P-3 Orion* at Atsugi.
(Photo [July 2020]: 桂川展明 via Twitter @4mSrXFyh8D4Px2T)

* The P-3 wing is all that remains of an aircraft damaged beyond economical repair when the roof of the NIPPI Corporation hangar, which dates back to 1955, collapsed under the weight of snow in February 2014. When seen outside as a complete, bare-metal airframe, the aircraft had lacked a SATCOM antenna, so was thought to have been a U.S. Navy aircraft. At the time, only surveillance aircraft had been present, and JMSDF aircraft used in that role remain all present and correct.

The second and third UH-60Js at Tateyama in 2018 (Photo: JMSDF AB website)

Delivered in December 1991, the first of 19 JMSDF UH-60J aircraft (8961) had been decommissioned in May 2014 and seen minus its rotors at Nagasaki airport in March 2016 (link).

When accessed in July 2018, the Tateyama base website had included a photo (cropped version above) that showed two dumped UH-60Js. The second aircraft (8962) had been manufactured in February 1992 and decommissioned at Tateyama in June 2015, where it was noted rotorless that October (link). Both 8962 and 8963 had been dumped together by February 2018; the latter had been seen rotorless at the base in July 2016 (link).

The third UH-60J had appeared to be already in a stripped-down and mothballed state in
a Tateyama hangar in October 2013.

There have been sporadic sightings of other Tateyama retirees, such as those listed of 8966 (dumped in similar fashion) and 8967 in December 2019, and it is believed that the first nine aircraft are no longer operational; 8970 was still flying at Kanoya in August 2020. At some stage, at least one of the remaining 10 aircraft will hopefully find itself intact and on display.

(Photo [Sept. 2020]: JMSDF 21st Fleet Air Wing, Tateyama via Twitter @JMSDF_21aw)

(Photo [Tokushima, Sept. 2017]: Hunini via Wikimedia Commons)

(Photo [Iwakuni, June 9, 2017]: U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Joseph Abrego)

 

 

Where Are They Now? by Prefecture

As this is intended as a quick reference listing, aircraft and any SDF base locations mentioned in this guide are colour coded: Plain text: JASDF / Green: JGSDF / Orange: JMSDF

As of the last count, former JASDF aircraft are represented in 39 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, JGSDF in 38, and JMSDF in 19. The guide highlights the main pockets of retired JGSDF aircraft (including Ibaraki, Saitama, and Tochigi) and JMSDF aircraft (Chiba and Kagoshima prefectures).

Visitors to this website and to any locations are reminded that this is a rough guide, and that much of the aircraft population outside established museums lacks permanent resident status. The situation with JGSDF aircraft in particular remains fluid.

This rough guide was last amended in January 2021 and will be updated/corrected on an ongoing basis, as and when new or better information comes to light.

Aichi

Kasugai Army Camp	UH-1H
Komaki AB	F-86D/F-86F/T-1B/T-3/T-6G T-33A/KV-107II-A5/S-62J
Komaki (MHI Aerospace Systems)	F-86F/F-104J/T-2/(T-6G?) HSS-2B
Kota (Nukata District Museum)	F-86F/H-13KH
Nagoya (Aichi Museum of Flight)	YS-11P
Nagoya (aboard Fuji, Nagoya Port Garden Pier)	S-61A
Oguchi (Yamazaki Mazak Corp.)	T-6G
Seto (private residence near Toso Park)	F-104DJ (nose section only)
Toyohashi  (Aozora Hustle game facility)	T-6D  (front fuselage only)
Toyokawa Army Camp	UH-1B
Toyokawa (Itoh Electrical)	T-1A (fuselage only)

Akita

Akita Army Camp	UH-1B
Mitane (Sozaburonuma Park)	T-33A
Ogashi (JASDF Kamo Sub-Base)	F-1

Aomori

Aomori Army Camp	UH-1H
Gonohe (Hibariya Park)	T-34A
Goshogawara (Ashino Prefectural Park)	T-2
Hachinohe Army Camp	OH-6D/TH-55J?/UH-1H
Hirosaki Army Camp	UH-1H
Hirosaki Univ. of Health & Welfare	UH-1H
Misawa AB	F-1 (plus nose section)/F-86F
Misawa Aviation & Science Museum	F-1/F-4EJ/F-104J/T-2 (x2) /T-3 LR-1/OH-6D
Ohminato AB	HSS-2B
Tenmabayashi Central Park, Shichinohe	HSS-2B

Chiba

Asahi (site of former IJNAF Katori base)	SNJ-5
Choshi (Chiba Institute of Science)	OH-6D
Funabashi (Misakikobato Nursery School)	OH-6D
Ichikawa (Daikeiken amusement park)	F-104J (nose and part of fuselage)
Kamagaya (Memorial Park)	SNJ-5
Kisarazu (JASDF No. 1 Supply Depot)	F-104J/T-1B
Kisarazu Army Camp	LR-1/KV-107II-4A/OH-6D
Matsudo Army Camp	KV-107II-4/UH-1H
Matsudo (Eucalyptus Park)	S-62J
Narashino Army Camp	CH-47J/UH-1H (front fuselage)
Sammu (Hyper Doraku game park)	F-4EJKai nose sections x2
Shimofusa AB	B-65/SNB-5/SNJ-5/P-2J/P-3C KV-107IIA-3A
Tateyama AB	B-65/KM-2/HSS-2B/S-61A-1/SH-60J/UH-60J
Tomisato (Aozora Nursery School)	OH-6D
Tsudanuma Campus, Nihon Univ.	H-13KH

Ehime

Seiyo (Shirokawa Athletic Park)

F-104DJ

Fukui

Eiheiji (Kamishiki Ninki no Sato Park)

OH-6D

Fukuoka

Asakura (Onrakukan)	T-34A (nose section)/KM-2
Ashiya AB	F-1/F-86D/F-86F/F-104J T-1A/T-6D/T-33A/H-19C
Chikujo (Metase no Mori)	T-33A
Chikuzen (Retro Tachiarai Station)	T-33A
Kasuga AB	F-1/F-86F/F-104J/T-33A
Kitakyushu (Kokura Army Camp)	OH-6D/UH-1H
Kurume (Maegawara Army Camp)	OH-6D/UH-1H
Nakama (Myouganji Kindergarten)	T-34A
Tsuiki AB	F-1/F-4EJ/F-4EJKai/F-86D F-86F (+ nose section) F-104J/T-33A
Ukiha (Yoshii Sports Island)	T-33A

Fukushima

Fukushima Army Camp	T-6G/OH-6D/KV-107IIA-4 UH-1B?/UH-1H
Koriyama Army Camp	OH-6D
Naraha (Old Car Center KUDAN)	B-65/F-86F/F-104J/F-104DJ T-2 (nose section)/T-6G/T-33A L-19E/H-13KH/TH-55J?/UH-1B KM-2/OH-6J (in JMSDF mkngs)

Gifu

Gifu AB	C-46D/F-86D/F-86F/F-4EJ F-104J/T-2(x2)/T-33A/T-34A
Gifu-Kakamigahara Air and Space Museum	F-104J/T-1B/T-2 T-2CCV/T-3/T-33A KV-107IIA-4/OH-6J P-2J/UF-XS/US-1A
Kakamigahara (KHI Gifu Works)	T-4/T-33A
Minakamo (Yamazaki Mazak Museum)	T-6G(x2)
Seki (Nakanippon Aviation College)	F-104J/OH-6D
Takayama (Hida Air Park)	KM-2/HSS-2B

Gunma

Kiryu (Kiryugaoka amusement park)	T-6G/OH-6D
Ota (Subaru Yajima Plant visitor centre)	T-1B
Shintomura (Shinto Furusato Park)	UH-1B
Soumagahara Army Camp	OH-6D
Takasaki (Shinmachi Army Camp)	KV-107IIA-4/UH-1H

Hiroshima

Kaita Army Camp

UH-1H

Hokkaido

Betsukai Army Camp	OH-6J
Bihoro Army Camp	KV-107II-4(x2)/OH-6J
Bihoro Aviation Park	T-33A
Chitose (Utsumi Park)	T-33A?
Engaru Army Camp	UH-1B
Erimo (JASDF Erimo Sub-Base)	F-1
Hakodate Army Camp	UH-1B
Kushiro Army Camp	UH-1B/UH-1H?
Nayoro Army Camp	UH-1B?
Nakatonbetsu (Kotobuki Park)	F-104J
Noboribetsu (Horobetsu Army Camp)	UH-1H
Obihiro Army Camp	T-6G?/T-34A/UH-1B/V-44A
Rumoi Army Camp	UH-1H
Sapporo (Chitose AB)	F-4EJ/F-86D/F-86F/F-104J T-33A/(T-34A)
Sapporo (Higashi-Chitose Army Camp)	KV-107II-4/OH-6D/OH-6J
Sapporo (Makomanai Army Camp)	UH-1H
Sapporo (Okadama Army Camp)	KV-107II-4/UH-1H
Takikawa Army Camp	UH-1H
Yamakoshi (JASDF Yakumo Sub-Base)	T-33A

Hyogo

Awaji (Mitsu Seiki Co., Ltd.)	F-1/T -1B/T-3/LR-1 KV-107IIA-4/OH-6D/UH-1H
Itami (Senzo Army Camp)	OH-6D
Kasai (Uzurano Airfield Museum)	SNJ-5
Kawanishi Army Camp	UH-1H
Kobe (KHI Seishin Works)	OH-6D
Kobe (KHI Nishi-Kobe Works)	UH-1H

Ibaraki

Hyakuri AB Yuhien	F-1/F-4EJ/F-86D/F-86F F-104J/RF-4EKai/T-2/T-33A
Kasama (privately owned)	T-33A (forward fuselage)
Kasumigaura Aviation School	LR-1/AH-1S/AS332L(?)/OH-6D
Kasumigaura JGSDF Public Information Center	KV-107IIA-4/OH-6D/UH-1H
Kasumigaura (Piso Tenjin Nursing Care Center)	OH-6D
Katsuta Army Camp	UH-1H
Mito (Uchihara Health Park)	UH-1H
Omitama (Tamazato Sports Park)	T-33A
Omitama (Airport Park)	F-4EJ/RF-4EJ
Omitama (Ogawa Marine Center)	UH-1H
Taishi Town	T-33A
Toride (Narita-Tsukuba Aviation College)	LR-1/H-13KH/OH-6J TH-55J?/UH-1H
Tsukuba (Geospatial Information Authority)	B-65P

Ishikawa

Kanazawa Army Camp	UH-1H
Komatsu AB	F-4EJKai/F-86D/F-86F/F-104J T-6G/T-33A/T-34A
Komatsu Airport (Ishikawa Aviation Plaza)	F-104J/T-2/T-3/T-33A OH-6J/KM-2/HSS-2B
Nonoichi (Kanazawa Institute of Technology)	T-3/OH-6D
Wajima (Japan Aviation Academy Wajima, Noto Airport)	T-3 L-19E?/OH-6D

Iwate

Takizawa (JGSDF Iwate Army Camp)

T-6G

Kagawa

Ayagawa (Takayama Air Park)	T-2
Takamatsu (TENPOS recycling center)	UH-1B
Zentsuji Army Camp	T-2/KV-107II-4/OH-6J/UH-1B/UH-1H

Kagoshima

Chiran Peace Museum	T-3
Ibusuki (Kaimondake Nature Park)	F-86D
Kanoya AB (dump area)	SH-60J
Kanoya (JMSDF Aviation Museum)	B-65/KM-2/R4D6-Q/SNB-5 T-34A/P-2J/P2V-7 S2F-1/US-1A Bell 47G-2A/OH-6J KV-107IIA-3A/HSS-2A/S-61AH
Kirishima (Dai-ichi Inst. of Technology)	H-13KH/OH-6J
Kirishima (Kokubu Army Camp)	KV-107II-4/OH-6D/UH-1H
Kirishima (Maruoka Park)	OH-6D
Kirishima (Uwatoko Park)	T-34A
Okuchitorisu (Okuchi Sports Center)	T-33A
Sendai Army Camp	UH-1B?
Tokunoshima Airport	T-33A
Yusui (Yoshimatsu Sports Hall)	OH-6D

Kanagawa

Atsugi (Atsugi NAF)	SNJ-5
Yokohama (privately owned, fuselage only)	T-33A
Yokosuka (JMSDF Yokosuka Recruit Training Center	HSS-2B?
Yokosuka (National Defense Academy)	F-1/F-104J/T-34A

Kochi

Konan (Kochi Army Camp)

OH-6D/UH-1H

Kumamoto

Kita-Kumamoto Army Camp	LR-1/OH-6D UH-1H
Kami-Amakusa (Sea Doughnut Aquarium in Amakusa Pearl Center)	PS-1?
Tsunagi Town	T-33A?
Yunomae (Green Palace/B&G Foundation aquatic sports centre)	T-33A

Kyoto

Fukuchiyama Army Camp	UH-1H
Maizuru (Meiho Golf Garden driving range)	SNB-5
Sonobe (Zero Fighter Research Center, Rurikei Spa)	T-6G “Zero”
Uji (Okubo Army Camp)	UH-1H

Mie

Tsu (Hisai Army Camp)	KV-107IIA-4/OH-6D/UH-1H
Watarai (Miya Watarai River Park)	UH-1H

Miyagi

Kasuminome Army Camp	LR-1/OH-6D/UH-1H
Higashi-Matsushima	T-2
Matsushima AB	F-2B (cockpit only) F-86F/F-104J T-2 (+ cockpit/nose section)
Sendai Army Camp	OH-6D
Sendai (Higashi Nihon Technical School)	OH-6J
Shibata (Funaoka Army Camp)	KV-107IIA-4/OH-6D/UH-1H
Taiwa Army Camp	OH-6D/UH-1H

Miyazaki

Ebino Army Camp	OH-6J/UH-1H
Kushima (JASDF Takahatayama Sub-Base)	F-86F
Miyakonojo (2inPart1 love hotel)	T-6G
Miyazaki Universal College	T-34A?/MU-2S?
Nyutabaru AB	F-4EJKai/F-86D?/F-86F?/F-104J MU-2S/T-2/T-6G/T-33A
Shintomi (JR Hyugashintomi Station)	T-33A

Nagano

Matsumoto Army Camp	CH-47J/KV-107II-4/UH-1H
Nagano City Youth Science Center	OH-6J
Omi Village (Hijiri Village Museum)	C-46D (nose section) F-86D/F-86F/F-104J/T-34A

Nagasaki

JASDF Fukuejima Sub-Base	F-1
Minamishimabara (Tsukemono no Sato Furusatokan)	SH-60J
Nagasaki (Kyushu Defense Bureau)	OH-6J
Nagasaki Army Camp	UH-1H
Ohmura AB	SH-60J
Sasebo (Ainoura Army Camp)	KV-107II-4/OH-6J TH-55J?/UH-1H
Sasebo (JMSDF Sasebo Police)	B-65
Shimabara (Mt. Unzen Disaster Memorial Hall)	KV-107IIA-4

Nara

Kitakatsuragi (Oji Technical High School)	T-1B/OH-6J
Nara AB	F-1/F-86D/F-86F F-104J/T-33A/T-34A
Yamatokoriyama (Nara National College of Technology)	T-6G

Niigata

	(Akadomari Coastal Sports Park)	T-33A
Sado	(JASDF Sado Sub-Base)	F-1
	(Kanai Sports Park)	F-104J
Uonuma (DrugTops drugstore)		F-86F

Oita

Beppu Army Camp	KV-107IIA-4/UH-1H
Kusu Army Camp	UH-1H
Oita (Nippon Bunri University)	F-86F/F-104J/OH-6J
Sanko (Hachimenzan Nature Park)	F-86F
Taketa (Yamaguchi Leasing company premises)	KM-2

Okayama

Katsuta (Nihonbara Army Camp)	KV-107IIA-4/OH-6D OH-6J?/UH-1B
Kurashiki (Sato Construction)	OH-6D
Okayama (Kyoyama Solar Green Park)	F-104J
Okayama (Sangenya Army Camp)	OH-6J

Okinawa

Nago  (Military Shop Ordnance)	T-33A (nose section)
Nago Pineapple Park	T-33A
Naha AB	B-65/F-4EJ/F-104J/T-33A
Naha Army Camp	LR-1

Osaka

Izumi (Shinodayama Army Camp)	KV-107IIA-4/OH-6D/UH-1B/UH-1H
Yao Army Camp	T-34A

Saitama

Asaka Army Camp	CH-47J
Asaka JGSDF Public Information Center	AH-1S/UH-1H
Gyoda (Saitama Subaru Sakitama Garden dealership)	T-1B
Hanyu Skysports Park	T-3
Iruma AB	(C-1) EC-46D/F-1/F-86F/F-104J T-33A/T-34A KV-107II-A5
Kumagaya AB	F-1/F-86D/F-86F/F-104J T-6G/T-33A
Omiya Army Camp	UH-1H
Tokorozawa (Tokorozawa Aviation Museum)	EC-46D/F-86D/T-1B/T-6G KAL-2/L-5E/L-21B/T-34A H-13E/H-19C/KV-107II-4 OH-6J/UH-1B/V-44A

Shiga

Otsu (Otsu Army Camp)

F-1/F-86D/UH-1H

Shimane

Izumo (Meda Forest Park)

T-33A

Shizuoka

Fukuroi (SIST)		OH-6D/LR-1 (at Hamamatsu AB?)
Gotemba (Fujisan Juku no Mori Park)		UH-1H
Gotemba (Itazuma Army Camp)		UH-1H
Hamamatsu	Airfield Café	F-1 nose section/F-86D forward fuselage F-104J forward fuselages/MU-2S fuselage T-1B nose sections/T-33A
	HamamatsuAB	T-33A
	JASDF Air Park	B-65/C-46D/F-1/F-4EJKai/F-86D F-86F (x2)/F-104J/UF-104J/X-2 MU-2S/T-1A/T-2 (x2)/T-3/T-4/T-6F T-28D/T-33A/T-34A/Vampire T.55 H-19C/H-21B/KV-107II-A5/S-62J
Higashi-Fuji Training Ground		CH-47J
Iwata (Sodeura Park)		F-86F
Makinohara (SIST Museum)		T-33A (forward fuselage)
JASDF Omaezaki Sub-Base)		T-3
Oyama (Harada Collection Racing Palace Automobile Museum)		F-1
Shimada (Minamihara Community  Center)		T-34A (possibly removed)
Shizuhama AB		F-86F/T-3/T-6F/T-34A
Shizuoka (Nagano Motors)		T-34A
Takigahara Army Camp		UH-1B
Yaizu (Hasegawa Corporation)		F-104J/T-3

Tochigi

Utsunomiya
FHI Utsunomiya Plant	T-1A/T-3
JGSDF Kita-Utsunomiya Army Camp/Aviation School	F-86F/L-19E/LR-1/T-34A
	OH-6D/OH-6J/TH-55J?/UH-1B/UH-1H
Teikyo Univ., Utsunomiya Campus	T-2/T-3
Tochigi Science Museum	UH-1B (as flight simulator)
Utsunomiya Army Camp	CH-47J/UH-1H

Tokushima

Tokushima AB	B-65/S2F-1/TC-90/HSS-2B/S-62J
Tokushima Army Camp	OH-6D/UH-1H

Tokyo

Fuchu AB	F-1/F-104J
Higashi-Tachikawa Army Camp	OH-6D
Ichigaya (Japan Defense Ministry)	UH-1H
Koto Ward (private residence)	P-2J (nose section)
Minamisenju (TMCIT, Arakawa Campus)	F-86D
Mishuku Army Camp	UH-1H
Morishita, Koto Ward (Murataka Autos)	C-46D (nose section only)
Nerima Army Camp	UH-1H
Nishitama (IHI Mizuho Works)	F-104J
Nishitama (W2 Design)	T-33A
Setagaya (Mishuku Army Camp)	UH-1H
Tachikawa Army Camp	L-19E/LR-1/OH-6D/OH-6J/UH-1H
Yokota AB (U.S.-Japan Joint Air Defense Command HQ)	F-1

Tottori

Miho AB	C-1/C-46D/F-1/F-4EJKai/F-86D/F-104J T-1B/T-33A/S-62J/YS-11P
Yonago Army Camp	KV-107II-4/OH-6D/OH-6J/UH-1B/UH-1H

Toyama

Nanto (private residence)	T-1B (nose section)
Oyabe (Crossland Oyabe amusement park)	KV-107IIA-4

Wakayama

JMSDF Yura Supply Base

(HSS-2B)

Yamagata

Higashine (Jinmachi Army Camp)

LR-1/KV-107II-4(x2)/OH-6D/UH-1H

Yamaguchi

Hagi (Hagi Activity Park)	KM-2
Hofu-Kita AB	F-1/F-86D/F-104J/T-1A/T-3/T-33A/T-34A
Hofu-Minami AB	F-1F-86D/F-86F/T-34A
Hofu (Hana no Ura Facility for the Disabled)	KM-2
Iwakuni AB	B-65/PS-1(x2)
Ohshima (Battleship Mutsu Memorial Museum)	PS-1
Ozuki AB	KM-2/SNJ-5/T-5/T-34A
Waki (Hachigamine Park)	B-65
Yamaguchi Army Camp, Yamaguchi City	OH-6D

Yamanashi

Hokuto (nursery school)	T-34A
Kai (Japan Aviation Academy High School, Yamanashi Campus)	F-86D/F-104JT-6G/T-33A OH-6D
Minobu Town (private ownership)	F-104J/KV-107IIA-4/OH-6J T-6G/T-33A T-2 (nose section)
Narusawa (Kawaguchiko Automobile Museum)	C-46D/F-86F (x2) F-104DJ/T-6G/T-33A L-19E?/H-19C S2F-1 (fuselage)