Naval Air Facility Atsugi
NAF Atsugi is a United States Navy base located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the largest American naval air base in the Pacific and houses Carrier Air Wing 5, which deploys with the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. The base is also used by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
The base was constructed by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1938 to house the Japanese 302 Naval Aviation Corps, one of Japan's most formidable fighter squadrons during World War II. Aircraft based at Atsugi shot down more than 300 American bombers during the firebombings of 1945. After Japan's surrender, many of Atsugi's pilots refused to follow Hirohito's order to lay down their arms, and took to the skies to drop leaflets on Tokyo and Yokohama urging locals to resist the Americans. Eventually, the pilots gave up and left Atsugi.
General Douglas MacArthur arrived at Atsugi on August 30 to accept Japan's surrender; it was his first trip to Japan. During the occupation, the base was used for overflow from nearby Camp Zama; it was not refurbished to handle military air traffic until the Korean War. The Seabees swarmed the base in 1950 and prepared it for re-opening that December as Naval Air Station Atsugi.
NAS Atsugi was a major naval air base during both the Korean War and Vietnam War, serving fighters, bombers, and transport aircraft. One of the aircraft based at Atsugi was the U-2 spy plane piloted by Gary Powers, which provoked an international incident when it was downed over the Soviet Union.
In 1972, the U.S. and Japanese governments agreed to share ownership of the base.