South Korea II 2024
In October we went to South Korea, for the second time this year. On the itinerary were the Sacheon Airshow and visits from the fence to several operational bases throughout the country. The South Korean forces have a high ops tempo which reflects in the number of sorties seen at these bases.
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For the second time in one year we returned to the Republic of South Korea. After our surprise visit to the farewell ceremony of the F-4 at Suwon AB in June, it was now time for The Sacheon Air Show and some operational spotting at several military bases in the country. Enjoy reading the report and the pictures.
Usually we start our tour in the weekend, but our itinerary brought us to the Amsterdam-Schiphol airport on Thursday 24 October 2024. As visiting military bases in South Korea is still not very common, we travel light, meaning a small flexible group who know what to expect in these kind of countries. That also means they were all on time at the airport and we smoothly transited through check-in, security checks and customs.
China Eastern Airlines was chosen for this trip and via a stop in Shanghai we ended up in Seoul on Friday 25 October. Because of the arrival time we could not pick up our rental car, that had to be done in the morning. The was good news for our last participant, who missed his connection (by no fault of his own) and was about the arrive early next morning. The other five did some shopping, took a taxi to a nearby hotel and got some rest.
It is already Saturday 26 October 2024 when the tour guide gets in a Uber to the car rental office and picks up a luxurious minivan, our last guest has arrived and together we drive to the hotel and pick up the rest. The goal for this day is to end up in Sacheon for the show on Sunday. We decided to stay in the Seoul area for a bit and check out some museums and Wrecks & Relics locations. Although traffic is high in South Korea, like we know from previous visits, it was extremely busy on this Saturday so it took some time to get to the first location at Seoul-Gimpo airport. The National Aviation Museum of Korea is more an educational centre than an aircraft museum, but has some nice exhibits and you can visit the top floor for a nice overview of the airport. Traffic was still very busy when we drove to our next destination, the Korea Aerospace University, where a couple of aircraft are displayed on campus. Upon nearing the site, we saw a lot of activity at the small military airport across the street. The local army unit had organized a small open day together with the university. Via a QR code, which we found on pamphlets on the street, you could register, which we succeeded, with the help of local student, as reading Korean is not our strongest virtue, and we were allowed on the base. It was not a big event, only a Bo105, KUH-1 and MD500 were on display, while further down three more KUH-1s and a AH-64E were visible. We were able to take a couple of pictures and talk to some of the locals. Very unexpected and we enjoyed it a lot.
Then it was already past 14:00 and we still had about 5 hours to drive, so we decided to skip the other locations for which there would be time later in the week. The highway was extremely busy and not moving very fast. A couple of highways in South Korea have a dedicated bus lane which, during rush hour, is only open to busses and also to 9 passengers vans with a minimum of six passengers. We complied to that rule, so we could do 100km per hour, while the other three lanes we doing considerable less and we gained over an hour, reducing our travel time from over 5 to under 4 hours. Happy times!
We had visited our hotel in Jinju before and after a smooth check in we crossed the street for a delicious local meal, did some shopping afterwards and went to bed, excited for the things to come.
On Sunday 27 October 2024 we left our hotel at 07:00 for the fifteen minute drive to Parking lot #1 for the Sacheon Air Show. We choose this one, as it was the nearest and lot #2 & 3 had shuttlebuses starting at 09:00 while the event would also be open at 09:00. From ‘our’ lot we could cross a small river over a temporary bridge and be on our way immediately. According to the website you had to register to enter, which we did, but there was no need for this as nothing was being verified. After a simple bag check we were on the base and among the aircraft at this fairly small event. The weather was a bit cloudy with some rain expected in the afternoon. The clouds were good for us, as you face the sun from the static where a nice selection of the South Korean Air Force aircraft were on display. Most could be photographed very well. The flying display started around 09:30 with a local KT-1, immediately followed by a T-50 from Gwanju and the session ended with a KAI KF-21 twin stick, the latest acquisition of the ROKAF. A short brake was followed by the Black Eagle demo team with ten aircraft being parked in front of the crowd, so everybody could witness from close by eight aircraft starting up and performing a good show. In the afternoon 13 special forces jumped from a CN235, luckily all with a good chute, followed by an impressive Combat Search and Rescue demo of a KA-1, two KA-50, two USAF A-10s and finally two HH-60s. Then it was 14:00 and time for us to go, it started to rain a little bit, the only thing interesting to us to follow was a second demo of the Black Eagle, but we still wanted to visit the KAI Aero Space Museum across the runway. Walking back to the car was easy and there was only a little bit of traffic before we reached the museum, where the Black Eagles were flying overhead. We spend here over an hour before heading north to our hotel for the night in Daegu, but not before stopping at a T-37 in Jinju and a F-5B in a park at Hapcheon. The day ended with a simple, but delicious local meal and there might have been a few beers involved as well. All looking forward to the next day!
Monday 28 October looked like an ideal start, while getting in the car at the hotel the skies were blue and we heard the thunder of multiple F-15s taking off In the distance. In the 3km drive to Daegu AB, the weather turned from blue to grey and thick fog and minutes after our arrival in the approach the landing lights switched off and they had changed the runway. We rushed to the western end of the runway and quickly found a nice spot, the weather on this end was also a lot better, and soon afterwards the first couple of Eagles came straight in. This point is a little farther than on the eastern end, you have a distance overview of the airbase and you are higher up so get a nice angle on the aircraft. We photographed sixteen different F-15K Slam Eagles and it was nice to see that some have received a large full colour badge on the intake. Visiting were two 8th Fighter Wing FA-50s and around midday we decided to move to another base. Yecheon is about 90 minutes north and when we arrived it was quiet. After about half an hour an F-16 appeared and made a low approach and we were at the wrong end… During the week we stayed in South Korea there was hardly any wind at any of the bases we visited, so it was very difficult to decide at which end of the runway to stand. We found another spot, where you could have a good view on the base and see the aircraft approach and capture them just before landing. Soon we heard engines starting up and aircraft taxiing to the runway. Based here are two variants of the KAI T-50, the light bomber FA-50 and advanced trainer TA-50, ten of each variant were noted this afternoon. A basic trainer T-50 made a touch & go and two F-15K’s visited the base, one different from the ones we saw in the morning. When the last aircraft landed and the airfield died we drove to the main gate to photograph the Hawk T.67 at the main gate. From there we drove to our next hotel, and as traffic is silly busy in South Korea you really have to calculate some serious travel time, an average of 50km is hardly achieved.
On Tuesday 29 October 2024, we started at Cheongju AB which also has a lot of airline traffic, so we knew where to go and found a great spot on the southern end. It was cloudy, but very light and soon we heard jets starting up, but it did not sound like F-35s, which are based here. It was a sound we are quite familiar with, six F-16s were enroute to the runway, followed by two F-15Ks and ten F-35s. During the morning we saw a HH-47 taking off, but unfortunately did not return during our stay. We did however were very pleased with a CN235, two KT-1s, two more F-16s and a MD500, although the latter was a bit small for a good picture. Then it was time to move one as we wanted to see a large as possible variety of the local air force, that is why we planned to visit two bases a day. A little over an hour north is Chunju AB, with a couple of squadrons of F-16s. On our last kilometre’s to the base five Vipers appeared overhead and landed before we had reached a spot to photograph them. But nine more were seen this afternoon as well as C-130 and three T-50s flew overhead, not at an ideal height, but a picture was possible. Around 15:00 the action was over and we moved northwest to Gangneung but not before visiting a couple of W&R locations along the way.
On Wednesday 30 October 2024, we had our first attempt at one of the main goals of the tour, seeing some operational F-5s. Gangneung is a difficult base as most of the times the wind comes from the west and the approach is then in the sea, but this time there was a slight easterly wind, meaning the approach is from the west. The skies were blue, so all ingredients for a lovely day, but the base was very quiet, no F-5s. So we first went to a nearby war memorial on the coast with a nice collection of aircraft. A locally built KUH-1 army helicopter flew along the coast, too far for a decent picture, an E-7 was noted at 30.000 feet and after we returned to our spot at the base an electronic Falcon 900 appeared and made a low approach and a little later a MC-130 landed. It was now time to decide what to do, stay a bit longer or head for the next base. (We later found out the F-5s had just ceased operating at Gangneung, earlier than planned, and is starting preparations for the arrival of the KF-21 in 2026.). As we did not want to waste this beautiful day we decided to move on to Wonju. Here we arrived after 1,5 hour and it was not long before the first two KA-1s were in the approach and then it went on till the sun set behind the surrounding hills. We were treated on half a dozen KA-1, 14 FA-50 and a visiting C-130H. Most aircraft come overhead and make a right hand pattern, so you can catch them while banking and lining up for the runway or moment before touch down with the autumn hills as a backdrop. Suwon was the location for our next hotel.
It is already Thursday 31 October 2024 when we make the short drive to Suwon AB, until recently home of the last Korean Air Force F-4Es, but now home to another legendary fighter, the KF-5E/F Freedom Fighter. We were not lucky with them the day before, let’s see what this day brings. As the wind was, again, very light, but from the south, we opted for a spot on the northern end. As we were about to park, two F-5s took off from the south! We found a good spot and after little time the first F-5s came back from their mission. Happy days! Because of the heading of the runway the light is not good anymore around midday, so after ten F-5s we decided to move to Osan AB. There was an F-16 on the runway with some emergency vehicles surrounding it and on the western end a couple of F-16s were waiting with engines running, but they did not take off. A civil Boeing 767 did and then it was quiet again. Because there is no decent spot with these wind conditions we decided to go back to Suwon to enjoy some more F-5 action. That turned out fine and another ten F-5s were bagged. In the afternoon it was also decision time as we had planned the Friday as a spare day. First thought was Gangneung as we might want a second chance on the F-5, but the base is far out and if nothing is flying there are not a lot of alternatives. Second thought were the elusive An-2s at Seongmu, they are not seen a lot, so might be farfetched. Also, the weather was not going to be good in the morning. The decision was made to have a go at the An-2s and accommodation was booked for the night.
Friday 1 November 2024 started cloudy with a light drizzle and at Seongmu, the An-2 base, a spot was found with a great overview of the base, but all the hangars were closed. We could hear jets overhead, probably from nearby Cheongju, the F-35 base, but as we did well there before and the drizzle had become rain we decided to do something else, go hunting for some wrecks & relics. An hour south is the impressive National Cemetery in Daejeon with a collection of aircraft and we also spend some time extra to get an impression of this place. Via a university with a F-5 and a Huey we returned to the vantage point of Seongmu and the hangars were open, five An-2s were outside, we heard on engine running and, also based here, a KT-100 was seen taking off, the airbase was active!! It was recently announced that the ROKAF has ordered a successor to the KT-100, the Ce172, so it is unique to see them now.
We located ourselves in the approach to capture the KT-100. When it landed we heard more engine noise and could see a couple KT-100 fin tips (the base is on a hill and only a small part of the aircraft can be seen) taxi to the runway. Eight of them entered the circuit to perform several touch and goes before going elsewhere for the other part of their mission. For a little while it went silent before we heard the famous engine noise of the An-2, we could see several of them, tail fin only again, taxi to the runway and a little later, one by one, six silhouettes appeared in the sky. One An-2 was flying a couple of circuits before leaving the area. In the mean time we heard KT-100 noised again and eight different ones than before performed a similar mission than the earlier eight. A little while after these KT-100s left the scene, an An-2 appeared over the mountains and minutes later five were in the circuit, performing touch & goes. What an amazing sight and sound, not to be repeated very soon again! When the last KT-100 returned we drove all the way north to Paju, as we wanted to visit the border on Saturday. This 180km drive took just shy of 4 hours in the extremely busy traffic. Just after eight PM we arrived at the hotel and enjoyed a delicious meal in one of the nearby abundance of restaurants. Also from the 22nd floor was a great view of the city.
On Saturday 2 November 2024 we slept in and left the hotel at 08:00AM for the 30 minutes’ drive to Imjingak to get on a bus for a touristic outing to the border area. Apparently security has heightened since our visit last June as it was not allowed to photography and the outside area of the observatory was closed, a bit of a disappointment. A little after midday we left the border and via a couple of wrecks & relics we arrived at the impressive War Memorial of Korea in Seoul around 15:00. After this location we visited a couple more location before we stopped at our last hotel of the tour.
Sunday 3 November 2024 was the last day of the tour, no aircraft spotting scheduled, just trying to get home. Two Ubers picked us up at the hotel as the rental car had been handed in the night before. Although it was very busy at the Seoul airport everything went smooth for our first flight to Shanghai Pudong, here it was also busy, but again a smooth transit to our flight to Amsterdam.
South Korea is a very interesting location to visit with lots of active military flying and lots of Wrecks & Relics locations all over the country. We will be back for sure!
