JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base ( 八戸航空基地 , Hachinohe Kōkūkichi ) ( ICAO : RJSH ) is a military aerodrome of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). It is located 3.0 NM (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) northwest of Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture , in northern Honshū , Japan .
5-535: JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base is currently the headquarters of Fleet Air Wing 2's Air Patrol Squadron 2 . which is equipped with Kawasaki-Lockheed P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft , and which is responsible for patrols of the seaward approaches to northern Japan. Aircraft are regularly dispatched to forward airfields in Hokkaidō , and in wintertime, conduct patrols of drift ice in the Sea of Okhotsk . JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base
10-612: Is adjacent to JGSDF Camp Hachinohe , and is also in close geographic proximity to Misawa Air Base housing Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and United States Air Force units. JMSDF Hachinohe is also the home base for the JMSDF Mobile Construction Group, the Japanese Self-Defense Force's equivalent to the American Seabees . JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base was initially founded as a training field for
15-725: The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in 1941. On the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II , the air field was occupied by the United States Army . Between 1945 and 1950, it continued in operation by the United States Army under the name Camp Haugen . With the start of the Korean War in 1950, the base was turned over to the Japanese Coastal Safety Force , the immediate predecessor to
20-739: The JMSDF. With the final withdrawal of American forces from Hachinohe in 1956, the base was officially designated JGSDF Camp Hachinohe. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) established a presence from 1957, and the JMSDF Hachinohe Air Wing was renamed Fleet Air Wing Two in 1961. The wing was initially equipped with Lockheed P-2 Neptune , later transitioning to Kawasaki P-2J Neptune aircraft. In 1963, American authorities banned civilian air traffic to Misawa Air Base , citing safety and security reasons, and commercial air operations were transferred to Hachinohe. In 1963, Air Patrol Squadron 2
25-562: Was established and reequipped with P-2J Neptune aircraft in 1971. The squadron transitioned to the P-3C Orion in 1985. With the re-opening of Misawa Airport in 1975, commercial operations were transferred back to Misawa. In an administrative reorganization in 2008, UH-60J helicopter operations were transferred to JMSDF Ōminato Air Station . Air Patrol Squadron 2 (JMSDF) Air Patrol Squadron 2 ( 第2航空隊 , dai-ni-sankoukuutai ) (also referred to as VP-2 or Fleet Air Squadron 2 )
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