I was born and raised in the USAF. Dad flew C47 in WWII, then B29 and B50 before switching into the USAF Security Service. He retired during Vietnam while my brother was in Phan Rang, I was at Hickam. This is a much better collection than March Air Base museum, thanks very much. Semper Vigilant.

Castle AFB at Atwater is where I attended ground and flight training to become a Inflight Refueling Technician (Otherwise know as a Boom Operator) in the KC-135. That was around 1960 or 61. Got to see the world many times over. Most of my time was ten years in and out of SEA. Retired on the 135 in 1978. Refueling in the air was the best job in the world. My memories are getting pretty dim now. Loved my job.

Castle was very interesting. Thank you for showing us this.

Some amazing aircraft on display. I grew up in the West side of the Central valley about 50 miles from Merced and had relatives in Atwater. Many times we would see B52's at very low altitude paralleling Highway 99 on approach to Castle. Sad to see those historic aircraft slowly eroding in the elements but glad to see so many in one place. You were there in August so it must have been close to 100 degrees or hotter out there.. thanks for the tour!!

I grew up in the Plainsburg community about 12 miles southeast Merced . We were on the fringe of the circle the planes from Castle would use for practice in the B-52. Never got tired of watching planes directly over head.

Having grown up in Berkeley, I heartily agree with your "Dog run". Whenever we visited back home I would tell my wife that when in California, "drive like a California driver otherwise you get run over".

Another fine showing ..buddy lol Your rite show it all ..love the ride Your buddy Peter warrell in Canada 🇨🇦

I agree with you. It's good to see the area around the place you are going.

I’m a big fan of the ambiance, YT. Keep it going 🫡

that b-36 is super impressive, thanks for uploading this.

Finally someone donated a couple new aircrafts and 2 million dollars and they're finally watering the grass

Awesome! I'm from Atwater grew up taking care of the planes of that Air museum specifically the P-80 FT-490 the one credited with The US first air to air jet kill. Got my first aviation wings from a vet i used to talk to as a kid he served on the WB-50 as a navigator Gave me a Photo of the aircraft flying too that i still have with me to this day in my barracks room, now since then I've earned my own pair of wings i can give out! love the video quite literally brought me back home Thankyou

Thanks for the tour! ✈️

Dear Sir, I'm in England and I have been to the States yet. I love the drives with you to the museums you visit. Regards Steve.

I was in sales at the phone company (Pacific Bell) and the Air Force bases were my clients (1989 - 2000). I LOVED these guys. As far south as Edwards AFB (and NASA), Castle AFB, Travis AFB, McClellan and Mather AFB's, Beale AFB, as well as Sacramento Army Depot. Those were great days --- visiting my clients was not a job, it was an adventure shared with amazing people. But then Clinton came along and the BRAC and decided they needed to go. First was Castle, then Mather, then McClellan and the ARMY Depot. I knew that at each base closure I was going to lose many, many dear friends, never to see them again. For anyone that was around then ...... John Embree says hello and I give my everlasting thanks for all of you great people.

And a fine driver as well 👍

My father was the radio operator in the B-29 during the Korean war. The very same B-29 that is here in the museum. Wish he could've seen it before he passed

Very nice presentation. I;m a railroad fan of yours. Nice coincidence to see we share some interest in the USAF. I spent most of years 1968 - 1974 active in the Air Force. Flew in several of the birds you reviewed at Castle. Thanks, keep it up!

Danke fürs Hochladen👍

Thanks for the upload. Just love informative museum tour's especially museums that I will never get to see. Those aircraft really need to be under cover.

This content is outstanding! Thanks for these! B-36 six turning four burning.

Oh my gosh,,, Chicago you say. Well hello from west and south of the windy city,, I 80 and Rt. 251 (old 51),, Lp and the Illinois Valley. Thanks for the time and narration you put into your videos.

Thank you for bringing this video to you tube. I live on the other side of the pond where there are probably not as many aircraft museums but our national sites tend to display in doors with just a few less valuable large aircraft being displayed outside consequently they remain in beautiful condition. They are free to enter with the exception of car parks where you have to pay and display.

Great Presentation Thanks TD Atlanta

If you live in Atwater, Winton or jest Merced I've passed the airbase every day for work and now I realized that people travel hours to jest to go to the Air museum

Love your little trips to aircraft museums , regards from the U.K . Fair play you guys built the best planes in WW2 .

The drive reminds me of my trucking days in Cali, love the planes and history, thanks'.

Hi thanks for the tour, I've seen many of these in the air in V/N. Couldn't I'd any of em back then as an airborne infantryman I was every thankful to see them coming in to help us.

Cool stuff!! My dad flew the B-36, AC-119 in VN, the C-47, C-124, C-141 and the WB-50 out of Guam and Japan with 63 penetrations into Typhoons........ Again, cool stuff!!

Cool museum. I wish they had funds to get them inside and properly restored.

Thank you for this. I particularly enjoyed the intro. Happy to have à glimpse on the outskirts of the city of Modesto as I am a big fan of American Graffiti, the great movie of George Lucas. The B36 is a gem ! You could dream of meeting James Stewart stepping out of the cockpit.

It’s a shame all those classics are stored outdoors, getting dirty and grungy. Nice to see them though.

An impressive variety of aircraft.

Very interesting scenery.

To answer your irrigation questions: California is implementing a new set of regulations that should decrease groundwater access by about 50%. The regs also aim to increase the number of groundwater recharge basins in the valley, which will take away water from some growers. CA produces 99% of the United States' almonds, pistachios, processing tomatoes, grapes, fresh citrus, hot peppers, lettuce, kiwis, and 100+ more fruits and vegetables using surface sources of water. The Colorado River, the Kings river, the San Joaquin river, hetch hetchy reservoir, and lake Tahoe are some of the main sources for California agricultural water. Together with the federal and state canal systems, water travels up and down the state at different times of year. California brought nearly $56B of revenue in 2022, and that wouldn't be possible without such water movement.

Love the drive too Museum 👍showing of America would love it if you did a Drive Odyssey

Interesting walkabout and tour. i did several East coast museums. Surprised by a Gannet, Royal Navy AEW aircraft at Bradley AFB, and in different locations, Kestrals, development a/c for the Harrier programme. Saw a SR-71 land once at Mildenhall in the UK, never to be forgotten sight.

19:30 the plane that was used in BAT 21 was a Cessna 337 Skymaster. It wasn’t a true Cessna O-2, they just tried to make it look like one for the movie. Speaking from experience because I own and am restoring my 1967 Cessna O-2A. Thanks to the pandemic the restoration funds dried up. I’m hoping to get some more help to get the project back on track and add another O-2 to small numbers of flyable examples.

I always wondered what happened to that B-36 that was at Chanute AFB. It was there in 65 when I went through tech school there, but a few months ago I did a Google Earth pan of the old AFB and the B-36 was gone. Thanks for clarifying where it went.

The T-33 was part of the 84th FIS there at Castle AFB. I worked on this plane's avionics while I was stationed there. There is a sister aircraft (there were 3 T-33s at Castle) at March AFB museum, which i believe you did a walk through video in the past. I don't know what happened to the third plane.

Yes the b36 came in by rail it was supposed to come in by c5a but then they had a little thing called the Gulf war

Comming up tha highway and seing that delta avro bomber over there I'd most Likley pull over hop the chine link.. Fantastic airplane but cramped

I'm just here for the highway now

The MiG-21 in US museums is always adjacent to the F-4e. It is understandable they opposed in Vietnam. The ratio of losses, alas, is not in favor of the Phantom, approximately 1: 2. The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was featured in Flight of the Phoenix (2004) and its prototype Fairchild C-82 Packet was featured in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). The old movie is better than the new one.

As they had the SR71, I'm surprised they didn't have it's predecessor, the U2/TR1.

I love the driving portion, feel like I am there myself. A shame you missed USS Midway in San Francisco, Hiller Aviation Museum in Bay Area & Aerospace Museum of California in Sacramento. They aren't necessarily very impressive but each has their unique displays.

Less driving less train footage came for planes 😢

My boyfriend likes Go , Dog , Go when he was child. also He likes Airplanes and Cars.

Nice vid. The Snowbirds fly the Canadair Tudor not the T-37, just for knowing...

Ya , get to that loadstar! Who wants to see a B-58! 😢

The f-111 Aardvark has always been my favorite airplane. 🛫

Nice showing of the aircraft. Would be a lot better. If you showed the names of the aircraft. So, some people want to see the aircraft and see the name of the aircraft and its specs. They can pause the video and read the specs.

Pretty rare to see a vulcan outside the UK.....I think there's like 20 surviving Vulcans and only 4 in all of north America! Though Vulcans still aren't as rare as B-36's since there's only 4 complete B-36's left in total!

I hate how we got about 3 seconds on that thunderchief and then a couple of minutes on the flying boxcar and the Douglas skymaster. Yes those are interesting cargo planes but I would have loved to have seen the f-104 and the thunderchief a lot better they're kind of rare and you don't get a good look at them especially the Thunder chief.

That WB-50 is supposedly haunted. OR it may have been Raz'n Hell. I'll have to check when I go again.

See my neighborhood

LOL.. yeah you better not be too critical of others because you don't know how to pronounce names... its pronounced NORTH-RUP. as in "up" Not "ROP" And like the B-36, the B-58 Hustler also came from Chanute in Rantoul, I know because I Live near Rantoul. and visited it many times before it moved. That is why its in pieces, it was just shipped there to Castle.

unlovely highway? why show it? its called editing

You don’t know that much about aircraft. You couldn’t even identify a cobra helicopter. And you made no mention that the F4 was with the Thunderbirds. .

11 minutes of you driving??????

Big disappointment those old war birds setting outside with little to no preservation rotting away and doesn't seem to be much intrest in visiting them either need to be moved where they would be more appreciated

The chinook was nicknamed the flying coffin due to the difficulty of escaping from the aircraft.

They sure sent you on a jacked around way to get there man. You couldn't have gone a worse way. I grew up in Merced/ Atwater Castle Air base from 52 till it was closed. They say 90% of the base is underground. During Viet Nam those B-52's flew day and night bombing the hell out of Nam. No body sleepted. every year they had open house and we'd go walk though the plans. I even remember when they had fighter groups stationed there. During the 2nd war my grand mother was a plane spotter for the air base. A lot of history there. By the way you do a great job, lot's better than most I'll be watching more thanks.

I read that they are going to build an indoor hangar to store some of the important pieces in there? Are they still planning on doing so or not? Anyone chime in?