Ground crew at work on a Supermarine Spitfire XIVE aboard HMS Vindex, Iwakuni, Japan, September 1946

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the RAF provided aircraft and personnel to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force for Japan.

Two squadrons, Nos. 11 and 17, and No. 4 Squadron from the Royal Indian Air Force, would serve in the British Commonwealth Air Component alongside squadrons from Australia and New Zealand. The occupation was short, ending in 1948, but the British later operated from Iwakuni in the Korean War of 1950-53.