Qualla: Iruma Air Base

Iruma Air Base: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ARC432A13, CC BY-SA 3.0. Lieutenant Colonel Gerald R. Johnson gave away his parachute to save a crewman, then tried to fly a crippled B-25 through a typhoon. He did not survive. The airfield where he died on approach in October 1945 was later named in his honor -- Johnson Air Base, the former Imperial Japanese Army academy at Irumagawa, thirty kilometers north of central Tokyo in Saitama Prefecture. That act of sacrifice set the tone for a base that would witness some of the most consequential aviation of the twentieth century, from kamikaze launches to Cold War jet combat to the peacetime aerobatics that now draw hundreds of thousands of spectators each November.

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Image: ARC432A13 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Iruma Air Base: Orange Biplanes and One-Way Missions

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ray Tsang from Irvine, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force established Irumagawa Airfield in 1937, opening it in December 1938 as the training ground for its air academy. In those early years, the runway hosted Kawasaki Ki-10 biplanes painted bright orange -- training aircraft that stood in vivid cont...

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Image: Ray Tsang from Irvine, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

Iruma Air Base: Cold War Launchpad

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit United States Air Force, Public domain. The U.S. Fifth Air Force relocated from Okinawa to Irumagawa on September 25, 1945, and renamed it Johnson Air Base. For the next decade and a half, the field served as a critical American staging point in East Asia. When the Korean War erupted in June 1950, the 3rd Bombardment W...

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Image: United States Air Force | Public domain

Iruma Air Base: A Slow Handover

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rs1421, CC BY-SA 3.0. The transition from American to Japanese control unfolded over two decades of careful negotiation. In August 1958, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force established its Central Air Defense Force headquarters on the base, even as USAF operations continued. The Americans re-designated t...

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Image: Rs1421 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Iruma Air Base: Blue Impulse and 200,000 Faces

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. Every November 3rd, Japan's Culture Day holiday, Iruma Air Base transforms into one of the country's largest outdoor gatherings. The annual air show draws staggering crowds -- approximately 200,000 in 2015, 130,000 in 2016, and around 210,000 in 2017. The star attraction is Blue ...

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0