Castle Air Force Museum Outing
Friday, September 19th
Science Lab 10:30am -11:30pm
Tour of Outdoor Museum
12noon – 1:00pm
Fees:
$4 students
$6 adults 18yo-59yo
$5 seniors 60yo and up
"Nose gunner to pilot.....bandits at 12o'clock high!"
Castle Air Force Museum located in Atwater, California was named in honor of Brigadier General
Frederick W. Castle.
More than simply lines from a movie, these words started adrenaline surging through the veins of men
whose courage and skill were tested daily in the skies over the Pacific, Europe, Africa, Korea and later,
Vietnam. To those who survived it, there is nothing glamorous about war. But, there is something
awesome...a mystique...about the aircraft flown by the brave pilots and crews of World War II, the
Korean War, and the Vietnam Conflict.
These aircraft...planes like the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the B-29 Super Fortress, the B-26
Marauder and the B-25 Mitchell Bomber as well as the Mustang, Thunderbolt and Lightning are as much
a part of America's heritage as Independence Hall, and the Battlefield at Gettysburg. In 1940, President
Franklin Roosevelt announced that the U. S. would build 50,000 planes a year to help defeat the Axis
powers. It was a number that, by his own admission, he had picked out of thin air. Production in 1939
was 2,195 aircraft. In the event, 300, 000 military aircraft were produced in the years 1940 through
1945, 95,272 in 1944 alone. When World War II ended, most of them were withdrawn from service and
scrapped almost as rapidly as they had been built. Castle Air Museum honors our veterans by preserving
these beautiful aircraft that were such an important part of history.
The tour takes approximately 90 minutes
Contact: Kathleen Lewis 209-969-2604 or Sheri Schermerhorn 925-470-6989 if you have any questions