Saturday 17th Nov - Gifu - Having had a leisurely drive to Gifu we missed any morning action there was to be had, but caught the Blue Impulse practice in the mid afternoon.
Sunday 18th Nov - Gifu - The usual early start to get parked southside of the airfield, near the Kakamigahara museum. Then watched the morning displays from the fields along with the usual crowds of photographers. Waited till the queue for the shuttle to the northside died down and headed over to snap the static. Was a little surprised just how crowded it was inside. Shot what we could and headed back to the bus asap, so we could be outside for the final flypasts which close the show on the approach. Unfortunately the light wasn't anywhere near as good as the morning.
The real serial has been part-covered to represent '999' for some unknown reason?!
Monday 19th Nov - Iwakuni - Arrived to grey sky and R02 in use, not ideal. A relatively quiet day, especially the JMSDF, just to complete the disappointment.
Tuesday 20th Nov - Tsuiki - Started at the seawall, in reasonable light, and caught a decent amount of action including display practices of a pair and a four-ship of F-2s. Less light in the afternoon and they changed runways, so we shot the usual chute-shots.
Wednesday 21st Nov - Nyutabaru - Started at the north east taxyway, in fairly grey weather, moved to the south east approach at the local shop/cafe, then to the south west. Pleasant bonus at the end of the day were two waves of F-15s from 203 at Chitose arriving, and night stopping enroute to Naha.
Thursday 22nd Nov - Nyutabaru/Kanoya - A local no-fly day, but we had all the 203 Hikotai F-15s depart in the morning. After which we headed off down to Kanoya for the rest of the day.
Friday 23rd Nov - Nyutabaru/W&R - A public holiday across the country, planned for a leisurely drive up to Tsuiki taking in a few W&R enroute. On the way to Shintomi (small town east of Nyutabaru) we saw two F-15s depart. So headed their instead. Turned out there was a festival in Shintomi and the pair of F-15s were for a flypast. Watched them return and then headed off to snap the W&R.
Next to Tachiarai Station in Chikuzen, Fukuoka Prefecture:
In the Ukihasi Sports Island, Ukiha-shi Fukuoka Prefecture:
Saturday 23th Nov - Tsuiki - The families day, typically provides an almost complete preview of the public event the next day. So as usual a very popular place to hang around. This year any parking close to the seawall area was barried off, but it was possible to park next to the other side of the river, near the fishing boats. Spent the morning there, then headed off back towards Nagoya as we would do the Hamamatsu air festival instead.
Week two to follow...
Paul.
