JMSDF Tateyama Air Base

JMSDF Tateyama Air Base is currently the headquarters of the 21st Fleet Air Squadron, with two squadrons equipped with Mitsubishi SH-60J/K helicopters optimized for anti-submarine warfare, and one flight of three Mitsubishi UH-60J helicopters which provide air ambulance services to the Izu Islands.

JMSDF Tateyama Air Base was initially founded in 1930 for the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. It was part of the Yokosuka Naval District, and home to the Tateyama Naval Air Group, equipped with Mitsubishi G3M bombers, Mitsubishi A5M fighters, Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers and the Kyūshū Q1W anti-submarine patrol aircraft. The artillery school for the Imperial Japanese Navy Land Forces was at Tateyama. Due to its location, it was regarded as a strategic site for the defense of the entrance to Tokyo Bay, and was a base for kamikaze attack aircraft towards the end of the Pacific War.

After the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, the air field was occupied by the United States Army First Cavalry Division. It was returned to the Japanese government in 1953, and assigned to the Japanese Safety Security Force, the immediate predecessor to the JMSDF. Tateyama was rebuilt into the largest heliport in Japan under the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), supporting rotary wing operations in other locations around Japan, including Haneda airport, JMSDF Ōminato Air Base, JMSDF Maizuru Naval Air Base and Iwo Jima. The JMSDF Fleet Air Wing 21 has been headquartered at Tateyama since 1961.

• Wertheim, Eric. Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft and Systems. Naval Institute Press. (2007). ISBN 1-59114-955-X

• Official home page
• Global Security Database
• Surrender of Tateyama Archived 2010-09-04 at the Wayback Machine