Kitakyushu Wakamatsu Auxiliary Airstrip

Military Decommissioning. The airstrip was a military facility built by the Imperial Japanese Army for a specific wartime purpose. With Japan's surrender and the subsequent dissolution of the Imperial military, the airfield lost its strategic purpose and was abandoned. It was never converted for civilian aviation.

The site has been completely redeveloped and shows no visible traces of the former airstrip. It is now home to the Hibiki Industrial Park (ひびき工業団地) and the Kitakyushu Science and Research Park (北九州学術研究都市). The area is occupied by modern factories (including facilities for wind turbine manufacturing), logistics centers, advanced research institutions, and university campuses such as the Waseda University Graduate School of Information, Production and Systems. Some of the straight roads within the research park are believed to follow the alignment of the original runways.

Known as the Imperial Japanese Army Wakamatsu Airfield (若松飛行場), it was constructed circa 1943-1944 during the height of the Pacific War. It functioned as an auxiliary and dispersal airfield for the main Ashiya Air Base. Its primary mission was to support the air defense of the vital industrial heartland of Northern Kyushu, particularly the Yawata Steel Works, which was a primary target for Allied B-29 bomber raids. The airfield hosted training and combat operations, likely involving fighter aircraft such as the Nakajima Ki-43 "Hayabusa". After the war, the site was briefly controlled by Allied occupation forces before being returned to Japan.

Zero. The site is fully and permanently occupied by major industrial, commercial, and academic infrastructure. The aviation needs of the Kitakyushu region are served by the modern New Kitakyushu Airport (IATA: KKJ, ICAO: RJFR), which opened in 2006 on a man-made island, making any consideration of reopening the old Wakamatsu site both impossible and unnecessary.