Naval Air Facility Atsugi 17.4.15

[JonoUK]

Hi All,

As you may have seen in Chris Heal's post we spent an incredible week in Japan with the main focus being Hyakuri and the Phantoms. To mix things up a little I thought I would start at the end! we spent the Friday of the trip at the Naval Air Facility in Atsugi where the weather looked more promising and the USMC were deployed. It's not the easiest base for access but there's a nice park area where you can stand for the afternoon. It was great to see the Hornets but the treat was the US-2 - what a stunning machine.

1.
Japanese ShinMaywa US-2 Flying Boat '02' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
2.
USN Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet '212' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
3.
US Navy Grumman E-2C Hawkeye '603' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
4.
USMC Lockheed Martin C-130J 'QD925' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
5.
Japanese Kawasaki P-1 '08' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
6.
USMC Boeing EA-18G Growler '503' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
7.
JASDF C-130H Hercules '074' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
8.
Japanese Kawasaki P-1 '08' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
9.
JASDF YS-11 '151' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
10.
Japanese Navy Kawasaki P-3C Orion '88' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
11.
USMC Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet VFA-115 'NF 300' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
12.
US Navy Grumman E-2C Hawkeye '603' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
13.
USN Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet '210' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
14.
Japanese Navy Kawasaki EP-3 '35' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
15.
Japanese Kawasaki P-1 '08' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
16.
Japanese TC-90 '37' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
17.
Japanese Navy Kawasaki P-3C Orion '88' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
18.
USN Boeing F/A-18E, Super Hornet 'Chippy Ho!' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
19.
USN Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet 'NF-301' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
20.
Japanese ShinMaywa US-2 Flying Boat '02' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
21.
USN Boeing F/A-18E, Super Hornet 'Chippy Ho!' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr
22.
USMC Lockheed Martin C-130J 'QD925' by Jonathan Haylock, on Flickr

Cheers

[AndyXH558]

Jon some stunning pic there, think that P1 is really a classy piece of kit. must admit the Japanese really know how design a really good amphibious aircraft like the US2. Thank you for sharing them..

one day...

[nellis6]

Nice pics buddy. Just a little confused though about your comments regarding access?? One end has a great park with a main road where you can look down on the base and photograph both arriving and departing traffic, whilst the opposite end has a nice little park (somewhat off the beaten track) where you can easily photograph arrivals, if not departures. Your images also bear that out! If that's poor access then I'm not sure what you expect. Some places in Japan are better, but there are many that are worse. I just didn't want people to think that Atsugi is difficult. once you find the spots, it's a doddle!

Once again, thanks for posting the nice shots.

[Airwolfhound]

Fab set of shots, nice

[JonoUK]

Nice pics buddy. Just a little confused though about your comments regarding access?? One end has a great park with a main road where you can look down on the base and photograph both arriving and departing traffic, whilst the opposite end has a nice little park (somewhat off the beaten track) where you can easily photograph arrivals, if not departures. Your images also bear that out! If that's poor access then I'm not sure what you expect. Some places in Japan are better, but there are many that are worse. I just didn't want people to think that Atsugi is difficult. once you find the spots, it's a doddle!

Once again, thanks for posting the nice shots.

My comment was that it wasn't the easiest not that it was poor, far from it, location (built up), nowhere to park on the main road, you cant shoot over to the base from the main road due to heat haze and looking back towards the park from the main road there's a fair few cables for the trains and trees, but once we moved over to the park for the afternoon it was excellent - definitely not 'poor' access but compared to Hyakuri....

Thanks Airwolf and Andy

[RichPittman]

Nice set Jon, hope you sent them packing off to the boat, fingers crossed they return from there cruise when I visit late November

[JonoUK]

Nice set Jon, hope you sent them packing off to the boat, fingers crossed they return from there cruise when I visit late November

Thanks Rich and best of luck to you in November!

[st24]

Fabulous collection of aeroplanes very nicely caught. That P1 is just

[RickIngham]

Goodness me Too many lovely aircraft. I'd love to get to Japan sometime - thank you for sharing!