Based at Hyakuri Air Base, in the Ibaraki Prefecture of Japan, the 501st TRS is equipped with the F-14AJ Aircraft. As Japan’s only tactical reconnaissance squadron, in addition to its defensive role, they are deployed as a response to natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis to help first responders and the government adequately understand the extent of the damage. Formed at the Matsushima Air Base in the Miyagi Prefecture in 1961 flying the American RF-86F Sabre, the squadron would move to Iruma in 1962, before settling at Hyakuri in 1972. In 1977 it was decided that the RF-86 would be replaced by the then new F-14AJ’s purchased by the JASDF, which had begun to phase out the elderly Sabres and aging F-4EJ Phantoms. Since its inception, the Squadron has bore the ‘Woody the Woodpecker’ American cartoon character on its tail’s, and still today the Squadron still operates from Hyakuri with their Tomcats, as the eyes of the JASDF.
