Chitose Air Base

Chitose Air Base 千歳基地 Chitose Kichi
IATA: none ICAO: RJCJ
Summary
Airport type	Military
Operator	Japan Air Self-Defense Force
Location	Chitose, Hokkaidō, Japan
Elevation AMSL	89 ft / 27 m
Coordinates	42°47′40″N 141°39′59″E / 42.79444°N 141.66639°E / 42.79444; 141.66639Coordinates: 42°47′40″N 141°39′59″E / 42.79444°N 141.66639°E / 42.79444; 141.66639
Map
RJCJ Location in Japan
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 18L/36R 3,000 9,843 Concrete 18R/36L 2,700 8,858 Asphalt concrete
Source: Japanese AIP at AIS Japan

Chitose Air Base (千歳基地, Chitose Kichi^?) (ICAO: RJCJ), is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force base located in Chitose, Hokkaidō, adjacent to New Chitose Airport. It is the JASDF's primary base in northern Japan and tasked with monitoring Japan's maritime borders with Russia. It was also Hokkaidō's primary civilian airport until the opening of New Chitose Airport in 1988. Together, these two jointly operated and connected airports create one of the largest regional airports in Japan.

Chitose's first flight came in 1926, when the Otaru Shimbun newspaper sponsored the "Hokkai One" (Hokkai-ichigō) flight, originating at a 10-hectare air field donated by the villagers of Chitose. In 1939, the Imperial Japanese Navy took over the field.

After Japan's surrender in 1945, ending World War II, the United States Armed Forces took over the base, being primarily under the control of the United States Army Air Forces, and later the United States Air Force Fifth Air Force. Major USAF occupation units assigned to Chitose Air Base were:

The base was used largely as a maintenance and logistics facility in the late 1940s prior to the Korean War, under the operational control of the 314th Air Division, Johnson Air Base. Chintose was operated as a sub-base to Johnson AB. As a result of the Korean War, the 6163d Air Base Wing was activated on 1 January 1951. The airfield was used primarily as an emergency landing field for aircraft returning from combat missions over Korea, and as a maintenance and repair depot by Technical Service Command.