Taichung Shuinan Airfield

Taichung Shuinan Airfield (台中飛行場, also known as Taichū Hikōjō) was the Imperial Japanese Army's principal airfield in central Taiwan during the colonial period and World War II. The airfield was located in the Xitun area of modern Taichung City, with the name "Shuinan" (水湳) derived from a settlement approximately one kilometer to the east in present-day Beitun District.

The precise founding date of the airfield is debated among historians. According to Governor-General's Office records (總督府府報), an airfield opening ceremony at a site in Taichū took place on August 16, 1936, attended by Governor Nakagawa. However, Republic of China Air Force reception records indicate construction began in October 1940 (Shōwa 15). The discrepancy may reflect different phases of development — an initial grass strip expanding into a full military aerodrome — or confusion with the nearby Kōkan (公館) airfield that later became Ching Chuan Kang (CCK). The airfield covered approximately 250 hectares of flat terrain northwest of central Taichung.

During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the airfield functioned as a dual-use military and civilian facility. It was the only airport in Taichū Prefecture offering scheduled commercial flights, with services connecting to Japan proper via the Ministry of Communications (遞信省) airline network. A weather observation outpost (氣象觀測出張所) was established at the field to support both military and civilian aviation operations.

The Japanese Army's 36th Air Squadron (陸軍第三十六航空隊) was stationed at the airfield, operating from hangars and barracks that still partially survived into the 21st century. The facility included maintenance workshops, ammunition storage, fuel depots, and dispersal areas for aircraft concealment.

As the Pacific War intensified, the airfield's strategic importance grew dramatically. Beginning in 1944, defensive fortifications were constructed around the perimeter, including distinctive bell-shaped reinforced concrete machine gun bunkers (機槍堡) approximately 10 meters in diameter and 6 to 9 meters tall, with multiple rectangular firing ports designed to provide overlapping fields of fire across the flat approaches to the east side of the airfield. These pillboxes were built in 1944–1945 as part of Japan's homeland defense preparations.

In the final months of the war, Taichung Shuinan Airfield hosted several kamikaze special attack (特別攻擊) units. Taiwan served as a critical staging and transit point for special attack squadrons deploying toward the Philippines and Okinawa, and Taichung was one of the key bases alongside Tainan and Kaohsiung for these operations.

On January 3, 1945, the airfield was subjected to a devastating air raid by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft. Air Group 80 from USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) launched a strike force comprising 14 SB2C-3 Helldiver dive bombers (VB-80), 6 TBM-3 Avenger torpedo bombers (VT-80), and 12 F6F-5 Hellcat fighter escorts (VF-80). Additional aircraft from USS Langley (F4U Corsairs), USS Essex (F6F Hellcats), and USS San Jacinto (TBM Avengers) also participated. The dive bombers and fighters concentrated their heavier bombs on buildings and hangars at the eastern corner of the airfield, while torpedo bombers attacked the runway diagonally from northeast to southwest. The SB2Cs carried two 500-lb bombs and one 250-lb bomb each, the TBMs carried twelve 100-lb bombs each, and the F6Fs carried one 500-lb bomb each. This raid was part of a broader campaign from January 3–22, 1945, in which U.S. forces systematically attacked Taiwanese airfields and military installations to suppress Japanese air power ahead of the Luzon landings in the Philippines.

After Japan's surrender in August 1945, the airfield was taken over by the Republic of China Air Force in April 1946 and renamed Shuinan Airfield (水湳機場). The ROC Air Force's Third Aircraft Factory (空軍第三廠) was established here, and from the 1950s through the 1980s, all domestically produced aircraft in the Republic of China were built and tested at this facility. In 1957, civilian aviation services were added, and in 1972 the Taichung Civil Aviation Station (臺中民航站) was formally established, with the facility commonly known as Shuinan Airport.

Civilian operations were relocated to Taichung Ching Chuan Kang Airport (now Taichung International Airport) on March 5, 2004. The Ministry of National Defense transferred most of the 253-hectare site to the Taichung City Government on December 22, 2007. The last flight departed on August 2012 when the National Airborne Service Corps relocated. The site is now being redeveloped as the Shuinan Economic and Trade Park (水湳經貿園區), a major smart city development project.

One wartime machine gun bunker survives and was designated a historic building (歷史建築) on April 24, 2006, later formally renamed "Former Japanese Army Taichū Airfield Machine Gun Bunker" (原日軍臺中飛行場機槍堡) in 2014. Located at the intersection of Jingmao 3rd Road Section 2 and Jingmao East Road in Beitun District, the bell-shaped concrete structure with its multiple firing ports stands as a tangible reminder of the airfield's wartime role. The Japanese Army 36th Air Squadron barracks building (水湳機場營舍) is also preserved as a historic building. These heritage structures provide rare physical evidence of Japan's military aviation infrastructure in colonial Taiwan.