There is no question that the ‘historic’ first fighter deployment by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) to Europe captured the imagination of the aviation community far and wide. It got everyone discussing the possibilities and speculation surrounding the composition of the deployment; how long? how many aircraft? etc, which only added to the tension the aviation community felt. No surprise then that there were no official details provided by the RAF in the build-up, and It was not until the JASDF provided limited details that the military ‘rumour mill’ truly got going; and how it did!! Ian Harding was on hand at both RAF Coningsby and RAF Brize Norton during the deployment to capture this historic occasion.