Chōfu Airport 調布飛行場 Chōfu Hikōjō
IATA:none ICAO:RJTF
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Bureau of Port and Harbor,Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Location	Chōfu,Tokyo, Japan
Hub for	New Central Airservice
Elevation AMSL	139 ft / 42 m
Coordinates	35°40′18″N139°31′41″E / 35.67167°N 139.52806°E /35.67167; 139.52806
Map
RJTF Show map of Tokyo RJTF Show map of Japan
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 17/35 800 2,625 Asphalt concrete
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 94,816 Cargo (metric tonnes) 55 Aircraft movement 15,225
Source: JapaneseMinistry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism[1]

Chōfu Airport (調布飛行場,Chōfu Hikōjō) (ICAO:RJTF) is anairport located 1.2 NM (2.2 km; 1.4 mi) northwest^[2] ofChōfu, Tokyo,Japan, west of centralTokyo. It is administered by the Bureau of Port and Harbor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The airport's main commercial activity isNew Central Airservice commuter flights to theIzu Islands south of Tokyo.

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. Although it was originally envisioned as a public airport, with the onset ofWorld War II it was exclusively used by theImperial Japanese Army Air Service. The airfield was host toKawasaki Ki-61 Hien fighters used for air defense againstBoeing B-29 Superfortress bombing raids by theUnited 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 forLockheed F-5 Lightning photo-reconnaissance aircraft of the6th and71st 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 theoccupation government in 1946.

Chofu Airfield was returned to the Japanese government in 1972 as part of the Kanto Plain Consolidation Plan, under which several US military facilities in theGreater Tokyo Area were returned to Japan in exchange for upgrades toYokota Air Base in western Tokyo. The nearby Kanto Mura military housing complex was returned to Japan in 1974.^[3] Public commercial air service began in 1979 with flights to Niijima.

Chōfu Airport is currently used by a number of companies includingAerotec,Jamco,^[4]Toho Air Service,Tokyo Airlines [ja]^[5] andNew Central Airservice.

The airport is also used by the national aeronautics and astronautics agencyJAXA. JAXA's headquarters are also located inChōfu. The Chōfu Aerospace Center serves as JAXA's primary research and development base. As a hub of aeronautical research and development in Japan, the center plays an important role in supporting and spearheading the growth of the Japanese aviation industry.^[6]

As with most Japanese airports, Chōfu Airport has an observation deck which is located on the second floor of its terminal. In addition, there is a platform and a number of mounds located in nearby parks that also allow for the observation of Chōfu Airport.

Please get offChōfu Hikōjō bus stop in front of the airport terminal.^[7]

Chōfu Hikōjō

Besides, passengers who go Chofu Airport also can get offOsawa Community Center Bus stop．It takes about ten minutes from this bus stop to Chofu airport by foot．

Osawa Community Center

On March 23, 1976,Mitsuyasu Maeno, a young right-wing nationalist and actor, took off from Chōfu Airport on a self-inspiredkamikaze mission into the house ofYoshio Kodama, a Japanese organized crime figure linked to theLockheed Scandal. Maeno felt that Kodama facilitating bribes from the American aircraft company was a betrayal of right-wing values. Maeno was killed and two of Kodama's servants were injured. Kodama was uninjured.^[8]

On August 10, 1980, a private plane crashed into the playground of Chōfu Junior High School after take-off, killing everyone on board.^[9][10]

On July 26, 2015, aPiper PA-46 Malibu piloted by Taishi Kawamura and carrying four passengers on board, crashed into a residential area just after take-off. Three people died in the crash, including the pilot, one of the passengers, and a woman on the ground. The other three passengers survived with injuries, as did two people on the ground. Witnesses on the ground reported that the engine made an abnormal sound as it flew over them. Several videos were uploaded toYouTube showing the airplane flying lower than usual after take-off. Three investigators from theJapan Transport Safety Board were soon dispatched to the accident site. TheTokyo Metropolitan Police Department also launched an investigation, suspecting professional negligence resulting in injury and death. Initial investigative work revealed the airplane was involved in a landing incident at an airport inHokkaido in October 2004. Several anomalies with the flight plan were also found. Media speculations suggested the engine or professional negligence as likely causes of the crash.^[9][11]

 This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

Wikimedia Commons has media related toChofu Airport.

• Chōfu (in Japanese)Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Japan) Tokyo Civil Aviation Bureau
• Chōfu Hikōjō Mondai (in Japanese)
• Malibu.jp web site describes the fliers club and on airport "Propeller Cafe" (Japanese).

• Airports in Tokyo
• Transport in the Greater Tokyo Area
• Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Occupied Japan
• Airports established in 1979
• Chōfu, Tokyo
• Military airbases established in 1941
• Military airbases closed in 1972

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Pages using the Chart extension
• Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
• Commons category link is on Wikidata