Here are some more pictures showing the Air Base as it is today.
These are taken across the strip from the old tower.

To see the full-sized picture, click on the thumbnail. Use your browser's "BACK" button to return to this page.

At the bottom of the screen are some maps showing where the pictures were taken.
Gomenasai for the Japanese, but the maps come from Yahoo!'s Fukuoka pages....

Wes Injerd got these pictures from MSGT Gary Peterson (USAF, Ret),
after Gary saw Wes's website. Gary sent the following:
"I was stationed at Itazuke from 1961-1967,and knew nothing of the POW camps. I worked in the munitions storage area which may have been the ordnance depot. Just returned from a visit and the munitions storage area is covered by tennis courts and the area on the hill is now an Olympic **** athletic field and stadium.

I think that people visiting these facilities should know what happened and why.

Have you heard anything about the ordance depot at Yamada near Kokura?

Respectfully, Gary Peterson Msgt. USAF Retired"
The field shown in the first three pictures is a track field for city events, called "TOF".

025: Camera is facing southeast.
026: 026: More of TOF. Faces east-southeast. Mountain on far right is Mt. Homan, where we lived, about half-way up. Below Homan is Dazaifu Shrine. Highest mountain in that short range is Sangun, which has a radar dome on top, about 3000 ft.
027: More TOF. Faces almost due east. Just to the right of the far light tower is the slag heap at the coal mine at Shime. Tall mountain is at the end of that range, Mt. Wakasugi, has a temple on the top, surrounded by huge old cedars, which is ironic -- Wakasugi means "young cedar"!
028: The fuel tank is still there. This was taken from TOF hill. The camera faces southwest and shows the airstrip. Building to left in foreground is a large gym. Far right complex on far side of strip is the new International Terminal. Interestingly, just to the left of that is probably the oldest hangar left. Everytime I see the airport I think of the men, POW labor, who suffered hauling rock and dirt to build the airstrip during WWII. They were so hungry they'd catch frogs and bugs in the fields there and eat them.
029: Another view of the fuel tank and the base.
030: This is the underground hanger. There used to be a taxiway up to the front. It could hold 3 F-100's on alert. There was a steel door that opened downward. When the door was closed the facility was airtight. When it became obsolete the bricked up the front and used is as the missile shop. Next to the hanger was the bore site range, used for aiming the guns on aircraft. The building to the right is the "Fukuoka Food Bureau".
033: Another view of the underground hanger. Over each door is still painted "NO SMOKING WITHIN 50 FEET". Must have been a requirement of AFM 127-100.
These maps show where the pictures were taken. The red cross is approx. where the photos were taken from. The airstrip shots were taken from up the hill more, just above the municipal sports center building (one that looks like a duck head; the rectangular building to the right of that is the pool). BTW, the "duck's bill" points to a circle with a Japanese character inside, which is the symbol for a public school -- this school is the Mushiroda Jr. High School. Mushiroda is the old name for the airstrip, what it was originally called -- Mushiroda Air Field.
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