Castle Air Museum- (https://www.castleairmuseum.org/) we have lived in the Central Valley for 14 years now. Both Rich and I drove the 99 weekly for work, and all 3 of us drove it often as we traveled to parts north. We have seen the signs on Castle Air Museum with every drive, and it is often on our local news. We always wanted to visit it, but never had time. Welcome Quarantine- for 9 weeks!!!! Yikes! Even though we took our daily walks thru the park and along the river- awesome as they are!- our wanderlust just can't be contained! Castle Air Museum is an outdoor museum of aircraft. Once it opened- on the 75th anniversary of the end of the European WWII theater- we planned our trip. Research showed among their aircraft is Air Force 1 used by Reagan and Clinton!! With interior tours on weekend only, we chose a Sunday for our visit. It was as amazing as I thought it would be!!! The museum does have an admission fee of $20.00 for adults and $15.00 seniors. This is a private museum, so it's upkeep is funded through admissions fees and donations.
The museum has 71 different planes spread across 20+ acres. Although they are not well marked, you can buy a map for $1.00.
Air Force 1- (https://www.castleairmuseum.org/douglasvc9c) A Douglas VC9 aircraft in operation 1975 to 2005 was a very cool tour! The person who flew the most in this plane: Nancy Reagan! They believe she chose this plane over others because she was into numerology and liked the call number of this plane. One thing we learned: any airplane is titled Air Force 1 if the president is flying in it- it is the designation for the President! The plane is essentially the same as any other plane built except for the communications center, seating is much larger, and a nice galley! Every first lady designs the china used during their husbands tenure in office. And the flag on the tail is larger than on normal planes, and wraps around the tail flap so it always looks like a complete flag. Our tour guide was Larry- and he was excellent!! The tour was about an hour, and was an additional $10.00 on top of the admission fee. I totally recommend you visit on a weekend so you can tour this very historic air plane!!! Only downside- no photographs inside.
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| 3 of us at the doorway! |
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| the plane s lower 1/2 is polished to mirror clarity- although this plane is in an outdoor museum so not maintained as the current Air Force 1 |
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| the flag stripes wrap around the flap |
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
The Blackbird was so cool!!! A maximum speed of 2100+mph!!! This is a plane with a massive engine!!!
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| The engine in perspective! |
Convair RB-36H Peacemaker
This plane is MASSIVE!! The bombs show why it is called the peacemaker- they are also massive- scary so! I would truly hate being on the receiving side of these bombs!!
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| under carriage holding bin |
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| massive wheels! |
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| Rich at the bomb to show the size |
Every one of the other planes deserve their own entry and description- that is how cool this museum is! Sadly, there is not room for it. But if you go to their website, you will get great pictures and descriptions of each plane. Here are some photos to entice you😼.
They also have an excellent indoor museum of artifacts donated by air force and military! Including nazi items. Totally worth your time!!!
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| empty table waiting for the return of the missing in action military whose bodies were not found yet. |
A visit to the Castle Air Museum is an incredibly educational experience for learning about and seeing the aircraft of war!
