Gifu: JASDF flight test center

Next on our schedule was Gifu Air Base. The main operator on this base is the Air Development and Test Wing which falls directly under the command of Air Development and Test Command which is headquarted at Iruma Air Base. The Kawasaki Heavy Industries factories can also be found at Gifu. Here, maintaince is carried out of aircraft like the P-3, E-2, CH-47 and T-4 for all three branches of the armed forces.

On this day we didn't see much traffic, which isn't that odd at a test base. Still we did see a nice mix of aircraft types, varying from a BK117 helicoper to a couple of C-1's. Highlight of the day was the XF-2B in prototype colours. It flew a mission with a local F-15 which was probably used as chase plane. Other interesting aircraft were the C-X and P-X prototypes, due to make their first flights later this year.

At the end of the morning we decided to move on to the other airbase in the vicinity of Nagoya: Komaki.