Kasumigaura is a small airfield close to the town of Tsuchiura, in the Ibaraki prefecture to the north of Tokyo. The airfield takes its name from Lake Kasumigaura which lies to the north and is the second largest lake in Japan.
The airfield is part of a larger installation known as JGSDF Camp Kasumigaura (Kasumigaura Chutonchi) consisting of a collection of hangars and aprons and a short grass runway. The main unit in residence is Kasumigaura Kou, the Kasumigaura Aviation School. In addition the Kanto Depot is responsible for the storage of older types on the site.
The area has a long aviation history, with Lake Kasumigaura being the location of a naval base, including a large airship hangar which was acquired from Germany at the end of WWI. In 1929 the airship Graf Zeppelin visited Kasumigaura en route to San Francisco as part of a world tour, the only circumnavigation of the globe by an airship.
The airfield at Kasumigaura remained in use during WWII and was bombed by the USAAF on several occasions. The airfield now falls under the control of the JGSDF (the Army in all but name), which was set up in 1954 and is the largest of the three services.
The airfield is situated in a built up area, and surrounded by residential and industrial land. Most of the airfield land is grass and forms a large training area for the based helicopters. There is also a short runway (06/24) marked out on the grass, in addition to a variety of markings to assist in training helicopter pilots.
The modern JGSDF operates a large fleet of helicopters, totaling over 400 aircraft. Most of these are American in design but built locally, although recently local designs have begun to enter service. Most numerous is the ubiquitous UH-1 Iroquois, in the form of the UH-1H and UH-1J, manufactured in Japan by Fuji.
The airfield at Kasumigaura is used for training pilots to fly most of the types currently in service. As such, the school has on strength examples of the aforementioned UH-1, Fuji (Bell) AH-1S Cobra, Boeing AH-64DJP Apache, Kawasaki (Boeing) CH-47J Chinook, Kawasaki OH-1, Kawasaki (Hughes) OH-6D and Mitsubishi (Sikorsky) UH-60JA Blackhawk.
Most numerous and active type at the airfield is the OH-6D, which is used for training all pilots. The OH-6D is a license built version of the Hughes Model 500D. A total of 387 aircraft were built by Kawasaki and served with the JGSDF, along with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF), and Japanese Coast Guard, in addition to various civilian operators.
As well as its training role, the OH-6D is used as a scout helicopter in the JGSDF helicopter squadrons (Homen Herikoputatai). In this role however, it is slowly being replaced by an indigenous design, the Kawasaki OH-1, unofficially nicknamed ‘Ninja’.
The OH-1 results from a requirement for a new observation helicopter which was issued in the 1980s. The proposal from Kawasaki was selected in 1992 and the prototype flew for the first time in 1996. Series production began in 1998 and the initial plan was for the JGSDF to buy over 150 of the aircraft to replace most of the OH-6s. However, this number has been dramatically reduced by budget cuts in Japan and it is very unlikely that the OH-1 will replace the OH-6 completely for the moment.
The OH-6 is an interesting aircraft, resembling an attack helicopter such as the Cobra or Apache, but lacking in offensive armament. Like an attack helicopter it is fitted with tandem seating for a crew of two and it features a sensor turret mounted in an unusual position behind the cockpit. The stub wings have four hardpoints – the inner hardpoints are for fuel tanks, the outers for the carriage of the Type 91 AAM (air-to-air missile).
The UH-60JA Blackhawk is another license built American design, in this case built by Mitsubishi. A total of 29 are in service as transport helicopters with the JGSDF – other versions also serve with other branches of the Japan Self Defense forces in more specialised roles such as search and rescue.
Primary heavy lift helicopter in Japanese service is the mighty CH-47J/JA Chinook. Most of these aircraft are operated by the airlift brigade at Kisarazu, but in common with other helicopter types, a few examples are based at Kasumigaura for training.
All JGSDF operational helicopters (and indeed the small number of fixed wing aircraft) wear a smart camouflage colour scheme of dark green, dark earth and black. This scheme is well suited to operations over the Japanese mainland, where the countryside tends to vary between cultivated land (mostly rice paddies) and dense woodland.
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