Misawa Air Base Festival is the biggest air show in Northern Japan held in Misawa City, Aomori Prefecture. Misawa Air Base is the home to the US Air Force 35th Fighter Wing and the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force 3rd Fighter Wing. The annual Air festival normally actracts in excess of a 100,000 attendees every year, travelling to see the many aircraft displays on the ground and in the air, the festival also hosts equipment displays, food stands and music. This larger than normal air show for Japan, allows the public to meet the members of it's armed forces staff, JASDF and USAF.

For 2019 the JASDF F-35A showed a strong presence at the show, with also a large amount of USAF Pacific forces aircraft from Japan and South Korea. The based JASDF F-2s displayed on the ground and in the air many times, as this is the last year the F-2s will display for the crowd here, as they are due to move to Hyakuri Air Base near Tokyo early in 2020. Amongst the many other highlights were a static display F-4EJ in the 301 squadron special marks and Japans very own Blue Impulse display. A great day out, lot's to see and do with plenty of aircraft (almost 70) and the most important thing, the sun (once the fog had cleared).

This is certainly one of the must visit air shows in Japan and will not be our last time visiting the Air Festival.

Author Mark Forest

Photography  Mark Forest and Duncan Campbell