Visit to Castle Air Museum, Atwater, California

SR-71 Blackbird and the Fossa

Last week Lara, James and I visited the largest vintage aircraft museum in the western United States. Opening in 1981 with a display of over 49 restored aircraft, the outdoor museum covers 11 acres outside the former Castle Air Force Base. Some of the primary exhibits included the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a Boeing B-52D Stratofortress, and the massive, ten-engine Convair B-36, one of only four surviving. This was one of the largest mass-produced piston aircraft in history, and we saw it in living color, or was that highly-polished silver?

With the closure of Castle Air Force Base in 1994, a group of dedicated enthusiasts formed an organization called the Castle Air Museum Foundation, Inc. Their sole purpose was to assume custody of the collection of aircraft and to build a museum to faithfully restore historic aircraft which could be exhibited for public enjoyment. We thoroughly enjoyed it! Well, some of us did!

No More Planes!

Some of the memorable aircraft included a 1937 Douglas B-18 and a 1992 Grumman F-14D Tomcat. I really enjoyed seeing the Tomcat. Lara and I were in Virginia in September when the last Tomcats flew into Oceana Naval Air Station for retirement. I wish we could have been there, but someone was running a marathon instead. Maybe next time we will see the retirement of something else aging in the inventory? Other rare finds included a B-17, B-24, B-29 and an RB-36. They are representative of aircraft that served from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War to present conflicts. I wanted to take home the B-52, but with limited space in the back yard, I will have to survive with a two-inch model.

All the aircraft are restored and maintained by devoted volunteer staff, which is amazing. These aircraft are a tribute to the men and women who designed, built, maintained or flew them, and I thoroughly respect people who can fly across the Atlantic in some of these historic monoliths. I would call some of these old planes crates or buckets of bolts, and would be scared to fly over the vast oceans of the world, or Germany for that matter. I respect the poor souls that dropped bombs from thousands of feet from B-17s or a skinny B-29s while taking on anti-aircraft fire. They seem so rickety, although built very sturdy. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was the first mass-produced, four-engine heavy bomber, which looked as if it was ready for “Contact” or combat. It was most widely used for daylight strategic bombing of German industrial targets during World War II as part of the United States Eighth Air Force based in England and the Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy. I was there as the Germans pounded the planes from far below with puffs of dark black smoke next to our plane. The insides rocked and the super-structure swayed as we moved closer to our targets. Chucky flew the plane as he was participating in the Memorial Day weekend celebration at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The plane took banks just like a racecar around the tight curves. Hundreds of con-trails could be seen in front of us as our objective loomed. Crash bang all around and the plane shook… Sean!!!! We enjoyed reading the history of each aircraft, the statistics, and photos of the aircraft as displayed. Yes, we read each paragraph for each plane!

Can I have One of These? The Hog Hauler

Castle is a history lesson that the whole family should share. Spend an hour wandering through history of war and calamity on the now-quiet runways of Castle Air Force Base outside Atwater-Merced. While there is nothing glamorous about war, these majestic birds serve as awe-inspiring reminder of how fragile our freedom is and how men and women stepped forward when that freedom was threatened. The Castle Air Museum stands as a tribute to the men and women of the past who put their lives on the line for our freedom.

Then plan a lunch at Hilmar Cheese Factory for Starbucks, grilled cheese, and a vanilla shake. Maybe next time we will give a cheese tour on the blog? But before your tummy goes empty, visit the museum in person to see these majestic airplanes up close!