MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — About 100,000 people from northern Japan are expected Sunday for the Misawa Air Festival, a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force air show augmented by the U.S. Air Force.
The base will open to the community, with air performances, aircraft on display, booths set up by nonprofit organizations and businesses on base and family entertainment such as a climbing wall.
Two bands are scheduled to play: the Air Force band Final Approach and the civilian group Flying Machine.
JASDF pilots will perform aerial demonstrations during the show.
“It’s a day out for the family,” said Maj. Teddy Nelson, air festival coordinator and the 610th Air Control Flight commander.
The show has fewer U.S. aircraft than hoped because two other U.S. installations also are staging shows that day — Osan Air Base in South Korea and Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station in Japan. A P-3 anti-submarine aircraft will be exhibited if it’s available.
U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots will be on the ground to showcase their jets and answer questions, and the skies will boom with performances and aerial displays from an F-16 and a variety of Japanese fighter jets, helicopters and other aircraft.
Blue Impulse, the JASDF aerial demonstration team, will perform, and so will Air Rock, a Japanese civilian stunt pilot.
The opening ceremony begins at 9 a.m. with a colossal flyby. The festival runs throughout the day on base and in Misawa city. Visitors to the base are encouraged not to bring coolers, and no pets are allowed onto the flight line. Everyone will be searched upon entering.
About 200 U.S. servicemembers are volunteering for garbage duty, maintenance or security. Sales from the booths — last year $80,000 before expenses — help pay for the show, Nelson said.
The festival will end with a massive foreign-object debris walk to clear the runway of foreign matter.
“It’s not over till you do the FOD walk,” Nelson said.
