[Promotum] Castle Air Museum

[Ed Hintz]

We were in LA this week to visit Sam's Dad, who had a bypass a little
over a week ago. So on the drive home we stopped in Atwater (just outside
of Merced) and got a motel, got up bright and early this AM and headed
over to Castle Air Museum. On memorial day weekend they open up a lot of
the airplanes and let folks climb around in them, today they had about 20
open.

<http://www.elite.net/castle-air/index.htm>

First stop of the day was the SR71. Due to the cramped cockpit they
wouldn't actually let us climb in but I was able to scope the interior.
There were several holes in the panels, no doubt where ELINT and other
classified stuff went, but for the most part it was all there. Engines
and everything are still in it, and it flew to Castle under it's own
power. A big bird, and really neat to get up next to it and ogle it.
Probably my personal favorite of the aircraft to come out of the cold war.

<http://www.elite.net/castle-air/sr71.htm>

Another one that made a big impression was the B17. We got to clamber all
over inside it, and we took a couple of photos of Hunter and myself in
the cockpit. Observations: suprisingly small inside, even more
surprisingly small bomb bay. The bomb bay itself had about the same space
capacity as my 1978 VW Bus, maybe less. That's a lot of airplane for so
little space. Belly gunners on these things were some dedicated guys.
Getting into and out of the belly turret was an extended task, and there
was no room in the turret for a parachute. In the event of a bailout
there was seldom time for them to get out; they were issued a .45 for
optional use on themselves if the plane was going in. Yikes. Got to talk
for a while with an old geezer who flew them, lost the plane and bailed
out over Germany, spent 22 months in LuftStalag 3. Very cool to not only
tour the B17 but to also talk to somebody with those experiences.

<http://www.elite.net/castle-air/b17g.htm>

Last on the list of highly notables was the B52. Nice piece of
engineering, that. Had 2 fellows inside giving quasi-tours, both former
crew who flew missions over Vietnam. Of particular interest was the
nuclear authorization equipment. Even if all 6 crewmembers decided to go
nutso and start WWIII they could only drop duds, the bombs were armed
with a code not known to the aircrew until Presidential authorization was
issued to drop 'em. Another interesting feature was the control apparatus
for the rotating landing gear; the B52 could land in a 45knot crosswind
coming at 90 degrees to the airstrip by crabbing into the wind and
aligning the gear with the runway. Fun cockpit in that thing.

<http://www.elite.net/castle-air/b52.htm>

I also climbed into an F111 and had 'em snap a photo of me in the thing,
figured my sis might like it as she did electronics work on 'em when she
was in the AF. Of note in the F111 was the go-no go electronics for
nuclear armament; spooky to see the doomsday switches (likewise in the
B52 but it's more visible in the small cockpit of the F111). Grabbed a
few shots of the HC131A, my stepdad was a career Coastie and I figured
he'd appreciate it. Will post photos sometime next week, they're getting
developed right now.

<http://www.elite.net/castle-air/fb111.htm>
<http://www.elite.net/castle-air/cv240.htm>

Next year I want to fly out there. Castle AFB was closed in '94 and is
now an (exceedingly large) GA strip. 11,802 feet long and 300 feet wide.
If you land on the numbers you'll have to taxi 3000 feet just to get to
the first turnout, it's gotta be fun flying in there. From the Bay Area
it'd be an easy flight and a fun daytrip.

<http://www.avweb.com/articles/castle.html>

Peace,

Edmund A. Hintz              **|**     "You may say I'm a dreamer,
Mac Techie, Unix Geek,      *  |  *      But I'm not the only one...
Mac/Unix Consultant        *  /|\  *     I hope someday you'll join us,
<ed@hintz.org>              */ | \*      And the world will live as one.
'78 Westy                    *****      Imagine."
                     http://www.hintz.org