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CASTLE AIR MUSEUM
Incredible Collection of WWII and Cold War Era Aircraft
During Vietnam and the “Cold War” era B52 bombers and KC
135 refueling planes would skim over the orchards and vineyards outside
of Atwater, California in a steady drone of the military exigencies of
the time, skirting the low fence between the suburban rural fields of
the Golden State’s central valley. After Vietnam the B52’s
stopped their flights from Castle Air Force base, but the facility remained
a refueling and training base home for the KC 135 tankers that kept America’s
nuclear deterrent shield flying in the sky. Training pilots would turn
in never ending circles between Merced and Turlock, making touch and
goes on the base’s long runway. Like hundreds of military bases
around the country, Castle Air Base, named for Brigadier General Frederick
Castle who was killed in 1944 in a B17 over Belgium and posthumously
awarded the Medal of Honor, closed as the country moved on to other priorities.
The
Castle Air Museum opened in 1981, originally a collection of some left
over aircraft from the
base’s
heyday parked near some unused hangars. Today the Museum as grown and
developed into an amazing collection
of WWII, Korea and Cold War era aircraft, displayed in a peaceful park
like setting on the edge of the property dedicated to aviation history.
The outdoor exhibit is eleven acres of some of the giants of the air
power
past
rarely
seen
elsewhere.
There are a few jet fighters at Castle Air Museum but the display focuses
more on bombers and larger behemoths of the late Second World War and
cold war.
There are the familiar and classic
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Mitchell B-25 made famous in Jimmy
Doolittle’s raid over Tokyo and B-24
Liberator, but also much rarer B-29 Superfortress like that which dropped
the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the truly stunning
transitional bomber which took the United States into the nuclear ere
The Consolidated-Vultee B36 Peacemaker, the largest propellered bomber
ever built. This ungainly behemoth, with its odd combination of rear
facing propellers combined with four jet engines in end-wing pods was
referred to as America’s “Big Stick” in the transition
to the SAC nuclear era, familiar to anyone who has seen the Jimmy Stewart
film “Strategic Air Command” Also here is a B-47 Stratojet,
a Vietnam era B-52D and unique to America at Castle a British swept wing
Avro Vulcan as seen in the James Bond movie “Thunderball”.
Among the jet fighter and fighter-bombers
on view at the air museum are a North American F86 Sabre Jet the king
of Korea’s Mig Alley,
an F-100 Super-Sabre, the first American jet to exceed the sound barrier
in level flight, two delta wing fighters of the 50’s the McDonnel
F-101 Voodoo and Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and later F-106 Delta Dart.
The Vietnam fighter-bomber workhorse Republic F-105 Thunderchief a General
Dynamics F-111 and hands down the two coolest aircraft to come from the
Lockheed “Skunkworks” the F-104 Starfighter and SR-71 Blackbird.
The museum’s indoor display presents history of the time and aircraft development, engines and a B-52 flight simulator cockpit and other flying memorabilia from WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the nuclear age. There is a café and gift shop where visitors can purchase aircraft models, clothing and insignia decals. The museum is located along old highway 99 in Atwater, California, 8 miles north of Merced, off Bruhach Road exit of Interstate 99 and is open all year around except for 5 holidays, New Years Day, Christmas Day and Eve, Easter and Thanksgiving. © Bargain Travel West
Web Info Castle Air
Museum
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See also:
YORKSHIRE AIR MUSEUM (England)
ZEPPELIN MUSEUM (Germany)
PALM SPRINGS AIR MUSEUM
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