Castle Air Museum

[sunny9850]

While I had been there before with the Saratoga on a recent work trip I was driving by Castle Airport on Hwy 99 on the way to Fresno .... so I had to stop in real quick and take a few snaps of the aircraft on display there.

Here are a few small samples of the collection.....









.... and a link to click through the rest of the pictures.

www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=icywotmg1ij

Cheers
Stefan

[dave mcqueen]

The flight boss there let me on that KC97 in the late 90s to photograph the cockpit area. I used those photos in the cockpit area for the B377/C97s I made for FS98/FS2000/FS2002.

Prior to that I got permission from a Stockton FBO to go aboard one of their Hemet Valley C97s that were stored there. I was told I could do whatever I wanted as long as I didn't fly away in one -- not much chance of that since props and engines were missing and 6 flat tires. I'd planned to take pictures of that cockpit but all the instruments had been removed and there wasn't much left.

I don't think I've ever been to Castle before when they actually had some green grass growing around the planes. That won't last long once the rain ends.

[eddiejez]

Hi ,

nice pictures

[coenraad]

Nice planes. And nice pictures. It hurts a bit to see in how bad condition many of them planes are though.

[jesse]

8-)Castle AFB always holds fond memories for me. It is the only USAF Air Base I was kicked off of. In 1951 while I was a member of the 1801st AACS Group at Hamilton AFB north of San Francisco, I had been down to March AFB in Riverside. Our group was responsible for maintaining all of the USAF Air/Ground Nav facilities and we had been to March to install a new UHF/DF system in the tower. We were flying in the Group B-25 and on the way home to Hamilton, we received a radio message from group to stop at Castle to pick up some nav equipment and bring it back to Hamilton. What we did not know was that Castle had put out a NOTAM that the base was closed to all transient aircraft. The 15th Air Force, a SAC unit under General Lemay was holding a high level classified conference. We did not get the NOTAM, but when we called in to the tower for landing clearance the tower operators knew that we were AACS and cleared us in.

When we turned off the runway and taxiied up to the Base Ops, we were met by about a dozen airmen, alll holding weapons. The officer in charge impounded the airplane and the Air Police escorted us off the base to the main gate just off U.S. 99. we, had to hitchhike back to Hamilton. Our group commander, Brigadier General Wooton was so upset that he called down to Castle and told them their tower was closed and no aircraft would arrive or depart. They immediately released our B-25 and Lt. Wendall Woodruf and Myself along with our crew chief flew down to Castle in our group C-47 to bring our B-25 home.

Jesse

[Tom/CalClassic]

Great story, Jesse. I have some fond memories at the Castle museum, including gaping open mouthed while inside the bomb bay of a B-36 - that was huge!

Thanks,

[sunny9850]

I had hoped that you would have a good story to go with the pictures Jesse...and as usual you did not disappoint
I can imagine the "thunder and lightning" going off when the brass collided ;D ;D

I did try to take a picture of the B-36 bomb bay but since these pics were taken with my cell phone camera it did not come out very good. I would have needed a person to stand by the main gear to get a "feel" for the size of that linkage......massive.

Having been involved with the Planes of Fame museum for a few years now I know how hard it is to keep planes in good shape even when they are stored inside.
Outdoor display such as Castle are almost impossible to keep up, especially these days when $$$s are harder to come by.

Maybe we could use some of the Stimulus money to help with that. After all it is national history on display here and in all the other museums. March certainly could use some help in that area as well.

Stefan

[pung]

Speaking of air museums. If anyone is in the area of Omaha, Nebraska, take the time to visit the SAC museum. There are all of the classic 50's & 60's warbirds. Tom is right, when you see a B-36 in person, it is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BTW, they also have a B-52 flght sim that looked fantastic, but I didn't get a chance to try it out (Nuts).

[capflyer]

Feb 14, 2010 13:19:34 GMT -5 pung said:

Speaking of air museums. If anyone is in the area of Omaha, Nebraska, take the time to visit the SAC museum. There are all of the classic 50's & 60's warbirds. Tom is right, when you see a B-36 in person, it is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BTW, they also have a B-52 flght sim that looked fantastic, but I didn't get a chance to try it out (Nuts).

Dangit. Now I have to go back again.... They didn't have the B-52 sim when I was there (albeit, that was 10 years ago now).

[bronicadve]

A couple years ago my son became very interested in the B-36 and wanted to learn more about it for a school project he was doing. We headed to Omaha for the weekend and actually got to spend time inside the cockpit and crew compartments. Riding the trolley between the front and rear compartments was one memorable experience. The B-36 at the SAC museum is continuing to udergo resotration. The cockpit has been restored but most of the rest of the plane is in pretty sad shape from sitting outside at Offut for years before the SAC museum was built west of Omaha. I have a bunch of pictures from the inside and detail shots of the bomb bays somewhere in my collection of stuff.

[jesse]

The B-36 at the USAF Museum at Wright Pat is kept indoors in a giant hangar and is in immaculate condition; of course, it dwarfs all the other aircraft there.

I guess it deserves its nickname; "The Aluminium Overcast".

[capflyer]

I hate to correct you Jesse, but the B-36 was nicknamed "Magnesium Overcast" among all of its other but all unofficial nicknames (only active service aircraft to never officially receive a nickname).

The B-29/B-50/K/C-97/B-377 family originally held the "Aluminum Overcast" nickname, but it was later passed on to the B-52 and XB-70.

[jesse]

Partly true, Chris; but in my generation we always referred to the B-36 Peacemaker as an Aluminum Overcast due to its tremendous size. The actual term began in WWII when the B-17 Flying Forts were sent out by the hundreds. When in formation, they literally blocked out the sun, therefore the name. There were two B-17s named Aluminum Overcast if I recall. One was shot down.

Jesse

[capflyer]

Jesse, I'm surprised at your statement because all of the research I've done on the B-36 (being that it was built down the road at Carswell, it's always been an interest of mine in aviation) and I've never once seen an "Aluminum Overcast" reference for the B-36, only "Magnesium Overcast". The reason for the difference being that the B-36 used large sections of Magnesium in its construction, evident by the "dull" sections on its exterior, and as it was flying at the same time as the other "Aluminum Overcast(s)", they wanted to differentiate it. I was not aware of the B-17 origins of the name though. It had always been in reference to the B-29 family's large size (for the time) that I'd heard the original connotation.

[dave mcqueen]

Speaking of air museums. If anyone is in the area of Omaha, Nebraska, take the time to visit the SAC museum. There are all of the classic 50's & 60's warbirds. Tom is right, when you see a B-36 in person, it is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BTW, they also have a B-52 flght sim that looked fantastic, but I didn't get a chance to try it out (Nuts).

And the really cool thing is that the B36, B52, B47 and B58 along with a lot of other aircraft are under one roof ! Amazing, and it makes the B36 actually look smaller. I've been to that one 4 times and once when the SAC air museum was housed OUTDOORS at Offutt in Bellvue, NE --- snow, hail, thunderstorms, tornados(?) huge temperature variations. The elements had really taken a toll on those on displays, many of which are indoors now fully restored. I have photos of that trip somewhere and I will post a shot or two of the deterioration if I can locate them -- pre digital camera era.

Also that B52 cockpit is tiny compared to the airplane - I worked with an instructor pilot on the B52 who said he had to stand for many hours behind the trainee; all part of the job.