The base was established in 1921 as the
Imperial Japanese Navy Aeronautical Technology and Training Center (海軍航空技術講習所). In 1923 Japan, which had fought with the allies, received the German
airship hangar from
Jüterbog airbase as part of its war reparations, and the hangar was installed at Kasumigaura air base. On 19 August 1929, the airship
LZ-17 Graf Zeppelin stopped at Kasumigaura for several days while on its
round-the-world trip. The Zeppelin visit made Tsuchiura famous throughout Japan for its potato-based
curry. The IJN ordered an
Astra-Torres airship from France in 1922 and stationed it at Kasumigaura from 1923, alongside a Japanese-built
Vickers SS-3; both of these airships left service around 1924. Kasumigaura later hosted three
Fujikura airships and one
Nobile airship between 1927 and 1932, at which point the Navy ceased airship operations and dismantled its fleet. The airship hangar was dismantled in 1943. The U.S. military took over the base in 1945 and handed it over to the Japanese defense ministry in 1953. Since then it has been used as a supply depot and as a training base for helicopter pilots and mechanics, with approximately 2,000 personnel stationed on base. ==References==