卓蘭飛行場
Takuran Airdrome

Source： NARA via Academia Sinica 中央研究院臺灣文史資源海外徵集與國際合作計畫「美國國家檔案館典藏臺灣舊航空照片」

在卓蘭長大的我從小就聽說壢西坪上面（壢西坪是比鎮上地勢略高的台地）在日治時期有一座飛機場，等到年紀稍大，真正有機會去壢西坪時，卻又因為只看到一大片果園而有些許的失望。上面這張卓蘭壢西坪地區的偵察照片是美軍飛機於1944年3月間拍攝的，完全看不到有飛機場的樣子，同樣讓年紀更大的我感到失望，顯然當時日軍尚未開始動工興建。
I was born and raised in the small town of Jhuolan (Takuran) in Miaoli county. As a kid, I heard that there used to be an airfield on the plateau called Lisipin (壢西坪) north of Jhuolan. When I was old enough to go there, much to my disappointment, there was nothing but orchards and orchards. This reconnaissance photo of Lisipin area was taken in March 1944. There is nothing that resembles an airfield. So did the Japanese ever build an airfield there?

到了1944年10月，日軍大本營啟動防衛菲律賓的捷一號作戰計畫，在台灣的日軍也進行作戰準備，包括以下所列的陸上航空設施。第B項工作項目是修築「秘密機場」，從11月開始動工，到12月就完成了十餘座，其中包括了卓蘭。
In October 1944, the Japanese put into effect their pre-formulated war plan “Operation Victory One” (Sho Ichi Go, 捷一号作戦) for the defense of the Philippines. Japanese troops on Taiwan were also ordered to prepare for the worst. The following Japanese military document lists the air facilities projects called for by Operation Victory One. Item B shows the “secret airfields” built and completed during November of December of 1944, including: Taihoku Matsuyama (Taipei Sungshan), Taihoku South (Taipei South), Ryutan (Lungtan), Koko (Hukou), Byoritsu (Miaoli), Takuran (Jhuolan), Taichu East (Taichung East), Hori (Puli), Sinka (Sinhua), Shoko East (Xiaogang East), Heichosan (Neipu), Choshu (Chaozhou), Kizan (Qishan), Giran West (Ilan West), Riko South and North (Ligang South and North). Among them, construction of Sinka and Riko (South/North) was aborted.

Source： Japan Center for Asian Historical Records アジア歴史資料センター

美軍在第二年的1月就從空中偵察照片發現了這座位於卓蘭壢西坪上的機場。以下照片取自1945年7月的情報分析文件《Air Facilities Supplement to Janis 87, Formosa (Taiwan), July 1945》，但照片是攝於半年前的1月24日。不過根據美軍的研判，這座機場極可能是個誘敵用的假機場。我還很小的時候，就聽說壢西坪機場上停的是竹子做的假飛機，儘管美軍情報也做這樣的判斷，然而沒圖沒真相，我暫時還是持保留態度。
No sooner had the Japanese built Takuran Airdrome than the American reconnaissance aircraft photographed it. The annotated photo below was found in the document Air Facilities Supplement to Janis 87, Formosa (Taiwan), July 1945. The photo itself was taken on January 24, 1945. The document pointed out that it might be a dummy airfield. Although I had heard from the elderly that the aircraft parked on the airdrome were made from bamboo, which also suggested it was a dummy airfield, I have some reservations.

Source： Courtesy of Cheng Yu Tu 杜正宇先生提供

何鳳嬌《戰後初期台灣軍事用地的處理》指出，卓蘭飛行場在終戰前因未完工，已先將土地發還，未移交給中華民國政府。下面的照片是美國CORONA衛星在1966年拍攝的，機場早已不見蹤跡，如果跟最上面那張1944年拍攝的照片比較，壢西坪幾乎沒有改變！
A Taiwanese historian wrote that the lands used for Takuran Airdrome had been returned to the owners at the end of the war because the airdrome had never been completed, which contradicts the Japanese document above. Anyway, when the super-secret American satellite CORONA photoed this area in 1966, the airfield had been completely vanished as can be seen in the image below. Actually it looked as if the satellite photo were taken in 1944!

Source： USCG via Academia Sinica 中央研究院臺灣文史資源海外徵集與國際合作計畫「臺灣CORONA衛星影像」

卓蘭飛行場的位置與壢西坪最近的樣貌可參見以下的Google Maps。近幾年來外地遊客常去的花露花卉農場就位於東邊的跑道頭。
I have made a drawing of Takuran Airdrome on Google Maps. Feel free to explore it:

在較大的地圖上查看卓蘭飛行場 Takuran Airdrome