Military Jets Photography: 2014 12 07 Air Festival Nyutabaru

Nyutabaru AB is located north of the city of Miyazaki on the Island of Kyushu in the south of Japan. The annual Open House is usually held in December and the weather is typical of winters in the east coast of Japan - cold with clear blue skies which, along with the low winter sun, makes for ideal photo conditions. The base area open to the public is located on the north side, which would result in difficult shooting conditions. For the enthusiasts which chose to watch the show from outside the base on the south side, a new runway close to the fence meant this years show provided almost perfect opportunities to view and photo the wide range of aircraft types arriving, the fighter air displays and departing aircraft during the day.

As many enthusiasts know Nyutabaru is an extremely busy fighter base with very active F-4 Phantom and F-15 Eagle Squadrons and of course the "Hiko Kyodotai", otherwise known as the JASDF Aggressors which fly a collection of uniquely brightly camouflaged Eagles whose designs change fairly frequently.
Its Open House is famous for the impressive fighter displays from the based aircraft, usually a visiting F-2 and this year a Misawa based F-16 also featured in the display schedule.
Opening the flying display were flights from all the based squadrons. Launching singularly and in pairs. Following the opening flyby there was the rescue demo from a based U-125 and UH-60.
This was followed by a pair demo by each Nyutabaru stationed squadron. First up were a pair of Eagles from 23 Hikotai, followed by a pair of Phantoms of 301 Hikotai which take off was very spectacular. Closing this chapter were a pair of camouflaged Eagles flown by the Hiko Kyodogun.
Next up was another attractively painted aircraft - an Tsuiki based F-2 which flew in direct to perform yet another impressive fighter display, including a demonstration of its ground attack role.
Highly anticipated by the local spotters is any display by a non-Japanese Air Force aircraft. The crowd was lucky to be treated to the F-16 demo team flying a Misawa based Fighting Falcon which gave an impressive demo of it's capabilities and the awesome manoeuvrability of the aircraft.
Closing the morning show was a parachute display from an Iruma based C-1, which was yet another opportunity to watch an attractive camouflaged aircraft in perfect sunlight.
After the lunchbreak it was time for the Blue Impulse with their six T-4 trainer aircraft to close the show. After having them missed at Tsuiki I was anxious to see them perform. Their routine was flown very well with the common manoeuvres but also some newes ones.
Typical for a Japanese airshow is that at the end of the show some of the static displays head back at their home base. This gave us some nice opportunities to photograph the static elements in there natural habitat, flying.