I had the great pleasure of visiting this base in late 2017, while the Phantoms were still flying. Sitting on those towers “on” base and watching as these planes rolled by, took off and landed, wow. I am so glad I got to witness this first hand. Thanks to @M.M and @KevinJ !
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Excellent shots Roger. Not sure if it’s true, but I’ve heard access to the towers is now very limited, apparently due to a lack of motivation by the gatekeepers. Anyone know if this is actually the case? I wouldn’t mind going back again even though the F4s are history.
That would be a shame.
That’s a short shuttter time for that time of day.
The other side is spectacular when they take the near runway. I wasn’t lucky enough to witness that (could have, but the rainmen wanted to go shopping… 
)
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Wait, what? Do you mean the last arrivals on our first day there, while we were all on the terminal viewing deck? Let it go, Roger. How were any of us to know that the sun was going to pop out for them?
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The sun popping out was a miracle, and it looked nice from the viewing deck.
It is crazy how this base kept surprising me every time we showed up. From the towers on base, the taxi way around them, the amount of flying, just the fact that we were in freakin’ Japan (such an awesome country)… and then this. “Let us test the emergency arresting gear today”. Never seen that before, and to witness it while a Phantom takes the cable, priceless…
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Less keen on that side of the runway, in part because of the background, but also navigating past all those spiders up in the trees. Made me shudder thinking one might drop on me. Meh!
We had a nice big spider in a tree at the towers… never noticed any on the other side… glad I didn’t…
From the spider side, which had lovely late afternoon lighting. Here’s an RF-4EJ 47-6903 taking off for an evening mission.
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I love Hyakuri, and very keen to return for the F-2s, although I too, have heard the rumours about the access to the towers. We went in 2018 before 302 was disbanded, and 301 transition to the JSF. Like Roger I was constantly surprised by the variety the base attracted.
77-8399_McDonnellDouglasF-4EJ_JapanASDF_RJAH_Img01 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr
37-8315_McDonnellDouglasF-4Phantom_JapanASDF_RJAH_Img03 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr
47-6905_McDonnellDouglasRF-4EJPhantom_JapanASDF_Img08 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr
07-6433_McDonnellDouglasRF-4EJPhantom_JapanASDF_Img03 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr
37-8315_McDonnellDouglasF-4Phantom_JapanASDF_RJAH_Img06 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr
07-8435_McDonnellDouglasF-4Phantom_JapanASDF_RJAH_Img01 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr
37-8315_McDonnellDouglasF-4Phantom_JapanASDF_RJAH_Img05 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr
92-3026_HawkerU-125A_JapanASDF_RJAH_Img01 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr
67-8378_McDonnellDouglasF-4Phantom_JapanASDF_RJAH_Img03 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr
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I would love to shoot some more Eagles in Japan, especially the aggressors, which we sadly didn’t see on our trip.
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