Airport type Public 17/35 800 Phone +81 422-34-4840 | Elevation AMSL 139 ft / 42 m Elevation 42 m | |
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Address Japan, 〒182-0032 Tokyo, Chofu, 西町２９０−３ | ||
Chofu Airport (調布飛行場, Chōfu Hikōjō) (ICAO: RJTF) is an airport located 1.2 NM (2.2 km; 1.4 mi) northwest of Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan, west of central Tokyo. It is administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The airport's main commercial activity is New Central Airservice commuter flights to the islands south of Tokyo.
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History
Plans for Chōfu airfield were made in 1938. Construction started in 1939 and the airport opened in 1941. It had two runways, one of 1000 meters and one of 675 meters. During the Pacific war it was exclusively used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service.
The airfield was host to Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien fighters used for air defense against Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombing raids by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF).
In 1944 a number of concrete hangars were built to protect the aircraft from air attacks. Two of these are preserved in what is now a small park to the east of the current airport.
Occupied after the war by American forces, the airfield was briefly used as a base for Lockheed F-5 Lightning photo-reconnaissance aircraft of the 6th and 71st Reconnaissance Groups beginning in late September 1945, mapping the extent of wartime damage over Honshū. The mapping flights ended in January 1946, ending operational military use by the Americans. The USAAF saw no need for the facility, especially given its proximity to the densely populated urban area. It was turned over to the occupation government in 1946, eventually being returned to Japanese control.