Misawa Air Base

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American and Japanese air traffic controllers work together in Misawa's busy control tower.

Miss Veedol Marker

is a United States air base located on the northeastern shores of Honshu, in the city of Misawa in Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku Region of Japan. The base is home to 5,200 US military personnel, as well as 350 US civilian employees and 900 Japanese national employees. Misawa is the only combined, joint service installation in the western Pacific. It houses all four US military services (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines) as well as the Japan Air Self Defense Force.

Misawa also has scheduled civilian flights operated by Japan Airlines to Tokyo International Airport (Haneda), Osaka International Airport (Itami) and New Chitose Airport, making it one of the few joint civilian-military airports in the U.S. defense grid.

The Misawa Passive Radio Frequency space surveillance site is used for tracking satellites using the signals they transmit. It also provides coverage of geosynchronous satellites using the Deep Space Tracking System (DSTS). It is one of the largest ECHELON ground stations.

History

What is now called Misawa Air Base has been used by the military since the Meiji period, when it was used as a cavalry training center for the Imperial Army.

Misawa was the take-off site of the world’s first non-stop trans-Pacific flight in 1931. Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon took off from Misawa on the “Miss Veedol” and landing 41 hours later in Wenatchee, Washington – successfully crossing the Pacific Ocean non-stop.

The Imperial Army transformed Misawa into an air base in 1938 when it was used as a base for long-range bombers. The base was taken over by the Imperial Navy Air Corps in 1942 and the base's mission changed to research and development. In 1944, facilities were built for Kamikaze Special Attack forces. At the end of World War II, U. S. fighters and bombers all but destroyed the base.

The American occupation of Misawa began in September 1945. Later, Army engineers restored the base for future use by the United States Army Air Forces. During the Korean War and Vietnam War Misawa supported fighter missions. The base was the launching point for clandestine surveillance overflights into China and the USSR during the 1950s.

Misawa's fighters departed in 1972. In 1983 it was a major deployment site for rescue and recovery operations, following the downing of a Korean Airlines 747. On July 4, 1985, fighters returned to Misawa.

Near the 1995 new year, Misawa experienced two earthquakes--7.5 and 6.9 on the Richter scale at the epicenter off the coast of Hachinohe. On September 25, 2003 a magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurred off the east coast of Hokkaido which was strongly felt in Misawa and all of Aomori Prefecture. Damage to Misawa Air Base was limited to burst water mains, cosmetic cracks in walls and personal property damage. There were no reports of damage to the base runway. This was the strongest earthquake reported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for 2003.

External links

[Misawa Air Base]
[GlobalSecurity.org]
[Misawa Airport Terminal Company] (civilian passenger terminal)

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