F-2 MISSIONS
Matsushima in the afternoon. Pine forest and the shoreline run south of the runway, with the town of Ishinomaki and the hills hazy in the distance
Air Bases

Matsushima Air Base

MATSUSHIMA Higashimatsushima, Miyagi

The home base. Where JASDF pilots actually train on the two-seat F-2B, on a coastal field whose two runways cross in an X — reproduced at full size.

DATA

Identifier
RJST / JASDF Matsushima Air Base
Runways
RWY 07/25 — 2,701 m × 46 m
RWY 15/33 — 1,500 m × 46 m
Elevation
About 3 m — essentially sea level
Based units
4th Air Wing, 21st Sqn (F-2B)
11th Sqn "Blue Impulse" (T-4)
Matsushima Rescue Sqn (UH-60J / U-125A)
Area built
About 107 km square
Buildings
54,188

F-2 MISSIONS starts on this runway. It is the home base you first take off from and the one you come back to.

The real base

Yamoto, Higashimatsushima, Miyagi prefecture — flat coastal ground on Ishinomaki Bay.

The 21st Squadron based here flies the two-seat F-2B and trains fighter pilots. Aircrew who have finished basic flight training come here to learn combat fundamentals in an actual fighter. In other words, this is where F-2 training really begins. The Blue Impulse display team (11th Squadron) is based at the same field.

There are two runways: the long RWY 07/25 (2,701 m) and the short RWY 15/33 (1,500 m), crossing in an X towards the northeast end. An approach to RWY 07 comes in from over Ishinomaki Bay.

11 March 2011

The Tōhoku tsunami submerged 28 aircraft parked at Matsushima, 18 of them F-2Bs. The 21st Squadron moved to Misawa to continue training and returned to Matsushima in March 2016. The apron was raised by 4 m during reconstruction.

The terrain we built

About 107 km square around the base. South is Ishinomaki Bay; east, the mouth of the Kitakami river and the Oshika peninsula. The ground runs unbroken all the way to the horizon.

There are 54,188 buildings — the town of Yamoto, the settlements along the shore, and the rice-field grid running inland.

What it is like to fly

The long runway is where you learn take-off, climb, turn and landing. At sea level on flat ground, nothing blocks the view once you are up.

You fly the same circuit three times — by day, at night, and in rain. At night the terrain disappears and only the runway and approach lights remain; in rain the pavement is wet and wheel braking is halved. Same shape, completely different flight.

And a box the size of a carrier deck gets painted onto this runway in white. Carrier training starts here, on ground that does not move.

GALLERY

An F-2 over the Oshika Peninsula at dawn, its ridges and inlets layered against the rising sun
The Oshika Peninsula, the ria coast that closes Ishinomaki Bay to the east
An F-2 on a rain-soaked RWY 07, tyre marks dark on the wet surface
RWY 07. On wet pavement, wheel braking is halved
An F-2 passing low over the factories of Ishinomaki port in the late afternoon — a red-and-white chimney in front, plants and drifting smoke below, the city and hills beyond
Low over the port of Ishinomaki, the industrial waterfront east of the base
An F-2 heading home at night — the coastline on the left, the lights of Yamoto on the right, the base ahead
Coming home. The ground goes dark and only the lights remain

The terrain included varies by edition and platform. See the description of each edition for details.
Elevation data: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI)

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