青春の証
​筑波海軍航空隊

Current condition of the site of Tsukuba Naval Air Group

 

Sadatoshi Kawakami　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

 

１　Introduction

　Immediately after the end of the WWⅡ, the former military lands were requisitioned by GHQ. After a few years, they planed to sell them to the Japanese governmet and various local governments, private companies. through Finance Bureaus of the Ministry of Finance.In May 1950, the northeastern half of the former site of the Tsukuba Naval Air Group, where the headquarters and residential quarters were , was sold to the Ibaraki Prefectural Uchihara Psychiatric Hospital by the Kanto Finance Bureau of the Ministry of Finance. Later, in August 1960, it became Ibaraki Prefectural Tomobe Hospital, and now functions as a hospital with 589 beds, 262 staff, and specialties of psychiatry and neurology.In addition, part of the southwest side was transferred to the former Ministry of Transport via GHQ and the Ministry of Finance, and is now the Tomobe Aeronautical Radio Communication Station of the Tokyo Civil Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (three staff members). In addition to being disposed of as agricultural land and residential areas, the remains of the runway are now functioning as public roads.

 

２　Overview of the sites of Tsukuba Naval Air Group

　Of the site of Tsukuba Naval Air Group, the headquarters building and the runway are now located in Asahi-cho, Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and the site of the live-fire test field is located in the Aza Hoshiyama area of ​​Taira-machi, Ibaraki Prefecture. the site of the underground combat command center is in Yanoshita, the same city, and seven uncovered bunkers are scattered around Yanoshita and Sumiyoshi, the same city.  In 1999, a cenotaph was erected in Asahi-cho, by the Tsukuba Naval Air Group Memorial Society.

(1) Around the site of the headquarters building

　Around 1938, Tsukuba Navy Air Group Headquarters Building (654 Asahi-cho, same city) was rebuilt from a wooden government building to a two-story reinforced concrete structure. Since 1950, this building has been used eventually as the headquarters office building of Ibaraki Prefectural Tomobe Hospital. The interior of the headquarters building remains the same as it was then, except for the fact that the room allocation was changed and maintenance equipment such as electricity was newly installed. There is also a pond behind the building. As ancillary structures, the main gate and command stand remain, and the roads, ponds, and parade grounds on the premises have been used as they were at the time of Tsukuba Air Base. In addition, there are more than a dozen cherry blossom trees lined up on the road from the “Shimpu(Kamikaze) dormitory”, which no longer exists, to the headquarters building. At the time of the Tsukuba Air Base, there was a "Tsukuba Shrine" on the premises, but it was demolished immediately after the end of the war because Tsukuba Air Base was, even if for a year, a base for Kamikaze squadrons and people in this area was feared to be punished by the GHQ. Only part of the cornerstone remains today.

On the other hand, the base of the runway, the apron, and the hangars were located on the grounds of the Tomobe Aeronautical Radio Communication Station of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism adjacent to the southwest. Permission was not granted to enter this area, and only Tomobe Hospital confirmed it, but the cornerstones of the 10 hangars at the time were confirmed. The area around the hangars and the apron was left as it was for a while after the war, and was used as a playground for children in the neighborhood. By the mid-1950s, it was used as a construction material for a gymnasium in Mito city, and was dismantled. On June 3, 1999, Tsukuba Naval Air Group Monument Preparatory Committee, which was established by volunteers from Tsukuba Naval Air Group Memorial Association, received the land adjacent to the runway provided by Mr. Jiro Hashimoto, who lives in Asahi-cho, and built the cenotaph there.

(2) The Runways

　Originally, the runways of this air base was unpaved and consisted only of vast expanses of grass. In July 1944, Commander Nakano implemented simple concrete paving. The roads that are currently functioning as public roads are what were simply paved at that time. These two runways, one in the east-west direction (600m×30m) and the other in the southwest-northeast direction (610m×40m), are diverted with a reduced width.

(3)　The Underground Command Post

　Since February 1945, air raids have also taken place around Tsukuba air base, so it was decided to move the command post to a newly constructed underground bunker. The bunker with six rooms was built about 1km south of the headquarters building, and was a semi-underground trench dug 22m underground, made of reinforced concrete, and filled with earth after completion. The scale is 30m from east to west, 12m from north to south, 2m high inside, and 4m outside including earthen mounds. Traces of foundations were found on the protruding part, and it is thought that communication equipment and power generation equipment were brought in. Cable holes are found in each room, and there are four doorways in the north and south. Due to its robustness, it still retains its original form, but has not been preserved.

(4)　The Open Air Bunkers

　During the period when the underground combat command post was newly established, some air bunkers were built to prevent damage to the aircraft themselves. At present, there are 7 units, and the actual number is thought to be more than 10. They are located on the southwest side of the runway, the underground command post, and is distributed in a flat coppice forest along Kita Kanto Expressway, with a straight line distance of more than 1 km to the runway. In the case of Tsukuba air base, the existence of an aeronautical covered bunker was not confirmed, and no testimony was obtained from the interviews.

(5)　The live-fire test field

　After the start of the Pacific Theatre, the live-fire test site was located at Hinuma River, 230m south of Inada-Tomobe prefectural road, about 4km straight west-northwest from the Headquarters building, near Tomobe Interchange on the Kita-Kanto Expressway. It is about 325m north-south and about 115m east-west, with an earthen wall built on the east side and the Hinuma River on the west side. The shooting position was on the south side, and the targets were 280m and 180m to the north. Behind the target was a moat, with sand and forest behind it. At the present time, the shooting position is the Hinuma River water intake site of the Ibaraki Prefectural Enterprise Bureau. After the war, the all area of this field was sold to a man returning from Manchuria (Mr. Hosoda, Hoshiyama Kaitaku Farm), so it has been well preserved. Mr. Hosoda's current house is built on top of the target structure for the shooting test range, and the basement of the same house has been converted to the target structure as it is.

 

 

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