Usuki Airfield

Military Decommissioning. The airfield was an Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service base. It ceased all operations following Japan's surrender at the end of World War II and the subsequent dissolution of the Japanese military.

The former airfield site has been completely redeveloped and bears no visible remnants of its past as an aviation facility. The land is now a major coastal industrial zone in Usuki City. Prominent facilities located on the site include the Taiheiyo Cement Corporation's Oita Plant and the Usuki Shipyard (臼杵造船所), reflecting the area's importance for manufacturing and shipbuilding.

Usuki Airfield was a World War II-era naval air base for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Known as the Usuki Naval Air Group (臼杵海軍航空隊), it was established around 1943. Its primary function was as a training base for seaplane pilots. Strategically located on Usuki Bay, it also played a role in the defense of the vital Bungo Channel, the strait separating the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku. Operations included training flights and likely reconnaissance or anti-submarine patrols. The base was a target of Allied air raids in 1945 before its closure at the end of the war. The ICAO code JP-3159 is a modern, unofficial identifier used in aviation databases to catalogue historical airfields and is not a code that was used during its operational period.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the site as an airfield. The land is fully occupied by significant and economically vital industrial infrastructure. Reconversion to an airport is considered extremely improbable due to the extensive development and the presence of Oita Airport (IATA: OIT, ICAO: RJFO), which serves the wider region.