Iwakuni Naval Air Base
岩国海軍航空隊
An Imperial Japanese Navy air station established in 1938 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, commissioned on 8 July 1940. During WWII, Iwakuni served as a major naval aviation training and defense base, housing 96 trainers and 150 Zero fighters. A branch of the Etajima Naval Academy operated here from 1943. Bombed by American B-29s in May and August 1945, the base was occupied by U.S. Marines at war's end and continues today as MCAS Iwakuni.
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History
Iwakuni Naval Air Base was established when the Japanese government acquired a large tract of land on the Nishiki River delta in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in 1938. Groundbreaking took place in April 1938, and the Imperial Japanese Navy commissioned the facility on 8 July 1940 as a home for naval aviation training units.
During World War II, the base served dual roles as a training center and a defensive air station. Its airfield accommodated 96 trainer aircraft and 150 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters. The base's primary wartime mission was pilot training and regional air defense for the western Honshu and Inland Sea area.
In September 1943, a branch of the prestigious Etajima Naval Academy was established at Iwakuni, with approximately 1,000 cadets enrolled at any given time in Basic, Junior, and Senior Officer training programs. This reflected the Imperial Navy's urgent need to accelerate officer production as the war situation deteriorated.
American B-29 Superfortresses bombed Iwakuni in May and August 1945, targeting the nearby oil refinery and the Rail Transport Office (train station) area. The final air raid struck on 14 August 1945 — just one day before Emperor Hirohito's surrender broadcast. Despite the bombing, the airfield infrastructure remained largely functional.
The first Allied forces to reach Iwakuni at the war's end were U.S. Marines, who formally accepted the Japanese surrender of the air base. The facility was subsequently used by occupation forces from the United States, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand — it became a Royal Australian Air Force base in 1948 — before the United States took it over in 1950 at the time of the Korean War. Today it operates as Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (MCAS Iwakuni), jointly used by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and also serves as Iwakuni Kintaikyo Airport for civilian flights since 2012. A new offshore runway opened in 2010.