Every operation JGSDF aviation has flown
GSDF aviation has never flown in combat. The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service is shown as background, not lineage: most of its role passed to the Air Self-Defense Force, and the GSDF, created in 1954, does not claim its record, though it took over airfields such as Akeno and Tachikawa. The dates, number and tonnage of the 2011 Fukushima water drops could not be confirmed and are left out. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Imperial Army’s first air missions at Tsingtao in 1914 to the Fukushima water drops of 2011.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service at warTsingtao, China and the Pacific War (predecessor)Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (background, not formal lineage) | 1914–1945 | Germany (1914), China, Soviet Union (1939), United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Australia | Farman III, Ki-43 Hayabusa | |||
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Reconnaissance, bombing, fighter and, in 1945, suicide attack operations. The army’s Provisional Air Corps flew reconnaissance and bombing missions at the siege of Tsingtao in 1914. The air arm became the Army Air Corps in May 1925, fought in China from 1937 and against the Soviet Union at Khalkhin Gol in 1939, and entered the Pacific War with about 1,500 combat aircraft. In 1945 it formed about 170 special-attack units. The GSDF is a post-war force created in 1954; its aviation branch does not claim this record, but it took over pre-war army airfields such as Akeno, the army’s fighter school from 1924, and Tachikawa, its first Tokyo air base from 1922. Outcome Defeat and dissolution in 1945. Whether the JASDF or the GSDF is the successor of the Imperial Army air service is a matter of interpretation; most of its role passed to the JASDF. Loss figures differ widely between sources and are left out.
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| Fukushima Daiichi water dropsGreat East Japan Earthquake reliefJGSDF aviation (CH-47 Chinook crews) | 2011 | CH-47J/JA | 0 | |||
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Dropped seawater on the damaged reactors to cool them, alongside wider earthquake and tsunami relief. After the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011 crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant, three Japanese CH-47 Chinooks were used to scoop seawater from the ocean and drop it over reactors 3 and 4, according to Wikipedia’s Chinook article. The images became the best-known pictures of the Self-Defense Forces’ response. The exact dates, the number of drops and the tonnage were not confirmed from an official source reached for this dataset and are left out. Outcome The drops were one of several cooling efforts; their effectiveness is not assessed in the sources reached. Details of the water drops (dates, number of drops, radiation exposure) could not be confirmed and are omitted rather than guessed. The GSDF’s overseas disaster and peacekeeping missions are not listed because no source reached confirmed that aviation units took part. |
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- MiGFlug Order of Battle: Japan Air Self-Defense Force (internal dataset, verified 30 September 2026)Sister page; covers the Imperial Army air service’s wars and Hamamatsu Air Base. Used for consistency only.
Figures verified 2026-10-01. Back to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force aviation.