Nyutabaru: Japanese Top Gun

Ask any military aviation photographer to name an airbase in Japan and Nyutabaru will probably be on top of his mind. The base is famous because of its wildly camouflaged agressors. A total of nine F-15 Eagles, each one painted in different colours, belong to the Hiko Kyodotai and are used as adversaries during air combat training. Other based aircraft include an F-15 and an F-4 squadron (both OCU's).

The base offers a variety of good photospots and with the large number of flights per day, some sunshine is all there is left to wish for. We started the morning at the checkpoint where we saw eight agressor Eagles leaving for Tsuiki airbase and the local missions of the other based aircraft.

Later, we moved to the opposite of the runway and enjoyed some take-offs and landings. At the beginning of the afternoon an F-15 returned with an emergency and was forced to use its arrester hook. This put the runway out of use for a little while and we left for Kanoya to end the day.