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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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".
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.
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!!
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.
They don’t have to be that way. I have been to PIMA air museum in Tucson and most of their planes are outside on dirt. They are quite presentable including the big ones like the B-36, C-124, B-52. Boing triple 7 and many more. They keep them clean and painted somehow. I was at Castle and clearly they don’t make the effort to keep them looking good. Sad to let them deteriorate. Their B-36 looks pretty sad compared to the one in PIMA.
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
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 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.
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.
369tvp6, I think most people familiar with both movies consider the original to be a great movie, a true classic, while the later one being viewed as something that crawled out from under a rock, awful in just about every way.
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.
Tonycombs, while "some people" might want to see the specs for each aircraft, the vast majority would not. Anyway, this is a museum walk through, not an in-depth documentary.
@@TC6268-Aloha , I posted it on RUclips just to irritate you. None contributing people such as yourself seem to love criticizing others who put actual effort into things.
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.
Christianpeterson, you are coming off as a graceless and selfish person who can only see things from their own narrow perspective. Guess what? The video has been made the way it was, and you bitching about it does not change things. And a lot of people prefer different aircraft than the ones you happen to like. If you can find a video of this museum that caters more to your personal preferences, then go watch it.
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 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?
Its the B-29 Raz'n Hell however ive been in the WB-50 and have had one of the navigator controls move Infront of my very eyes maybe ole Arthur hops between aircraft lol
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.
ILSRWY4, my oh my, you sure wrote a confused comment. Try and make points and organize thoughts before writing. I have read your first sentence several times and still can't be sure what you are saying. As for pronouncing aircraft manufacturer names, there have been BOTH Northrop and a Northrup names in aviation. According to information I have, there has always been quite a bit of latitude in pronunciation of those names. I have been researching aviation my whole life, and have heard both 'rup' and 'rop' pronunciations, and anyway they are very nearly the same sound. If you think I can't be critical on anything because you think I don't pronounce one a particular name the way you think it should be, then your level of pettiness and illogic leaves me uninterested in anything you think.
Brian Grant, its called having a clue, and sticking with the premise of the endeavor. Perhaps you were unable to read English, but I stated at the start that I was giving ambience to show potential viewers what it is like to get to the museum from the nearest major city. And what good would that be if I just showed the 'lovely' highways? I am amazed by the shallow thinking of some people.
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. .
Stormprooftraining, you are not displaying much mental acuity. If you think the 'lapses' you cite are indicative of the whole, then that is very foolish thinking.
Clifford Woolston, perhaps you did not read my notice at the start that I wanted to show potential museum visitors what they could expect from the long drive to the museum. With that being so clearly explained, what is with your "?????" as if you had not been clued in. And I gave clear notice that anyone who did not want to watch the drive part could skip ahead to the time marker where the museum part begins, so why are you in a lather about it to the point of needing to comment negatively? And seriously, you should be less selfish. I did not custom make this video for you, and others LIKE the ambience I often put in front of my museum videos.
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
Ron brown, first, learn to use punctuation when you write; it is a pain for readers to decipher run-on sentences written by careless people. Second, this is a wonderful air museum, certainly not a "big disappointment" to most visitors. A big plus here is that the planed are not so crowded together as they are in most other museums. And they are not quite "rotting away" as you suppose they are. Perhaps you don't get to many air museums, but a LOT of them store the planes outdoors. It is incredibly expensive to find and maintain the many huge hangars required to house so many big aircraft. Put your money where your mouth is, and make a big donation to this museum to add to their maintenance fund. Otherwise, yours is just empty bitching.
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.
Ponykeg, I disagree. I have checked the map since then and it seems to be a fairly direct route. I don't know who you mean by "they", but my GPS selected the route, and one thing GPS navigation algorithms are great at is calculating the shortest or fastest routes. As for your assertion that I couldn't have gone a worse way, that is obvious nonsense. Of course there a millions of worse ways I could have gone to get there.
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.
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.
Dad said the B29s were worse than the best rides at Disneyland. The B50s had so many improvements, they were really a different plane.
Another fine showing ..buddy lol
Your rite show it all ..love the ride
Your buddy Peter warrell in Canada 🇨🇦
Castle was very interesting. Thank you for showing us this.
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
I’m a big fan of the ambiance, YT. Keep it going 🫡
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
I used to think that I lived near an airport when I got here
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.
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.
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.
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!!
Frames Burns-Hagstrom III, actually the temperature was only in the low 80's (F), very comfortable.
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.
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.
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.
I agree with you. It's good to see the area around the place you are going.
Danke fürs Hochladen👍
that b-36 is super impressive, thanks for uploading this.
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.
This content is outstanding! Thanks for these! B-36 six turning four burning.
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!
Finally someone donated a couple new aircrafts and 2 million dollars and they're finally watering the grass
And a fine driver as well 👍
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'.
Love the drive too Museum 👍showing of America would love it if you did a Drive Odyssey
Cool museum. I wish they had funds to get them inside and properly restored.
In your dreams. NOBODY CARES!!!!!!! FUCK HOPE!!!!!
Very interesting scenery.
Thanks for the tour! ✈️
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.
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.
The one I remember the most is Gen. Stewart climbing out of the B-58! Quite the man!
An impressive variety of aircraft.
Great to see the HU-16. I helped deliver that plane back in the late 80's
Great Presentation Thanks TD Atlanta
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".
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.
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!!
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.
It’s a shame all those classics are stored outdoors, getting dirty and grungy. Nice to see them though.
They don’t have to be that way. I have been to PIMA air museum in Tucson and most of their planes are outside on dirt. They are quite presentable including the big ones like the B-36, C-124, B-52. Boing triple 7 and many more. They keep them clean and painted somehow. I was at Castle and clearly they don’t make the effort to keep them looking good. Sad to let them deteriorate. Their B-36 looks pretty sad compared to the one in PIMA.
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 cool, thank you.
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
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 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.
dominicfhk, I have been to those museums on earlier trips to the Bay area.
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
As they had the SR71, I'm surprised they didn't have it's predecessor, the U2/TR1.
Nice vid. The Snowbirds fly the Canadair Tudor not the T-37, just for knowing...
I'm just here for the highway now
Then leave moron.
That sucks i went there in july of this year and theyve closed the turrets on the RB-36
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.
369tvp6, I think most people familiar with both movies consider the original to be a great movie, a true classic, while the later one being viewed as something that crawled out from under a rock, awful in just about every way.
Less driving less train footage came for planes 😢
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.
Tonycombs, while "some people" might want to see the specs for each aircraft, the vast majority would not.
Anyway, this is a museum walk through, not an in-depth documentary.
Your vacation walk through for yourself. Why put it on youtube?
@@TC6268-Aloha , I posted it on RUclips just to irritate you.
None contributing people such as yourself seem to love criticizing others who put actual effort into things.
See my neighborhood
My boyfriend likes Go , Dog , Go when he was child. also He likes Airplanes and Cars.
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.
Christianpetersen, this relatively minor disappointment on your part merits a "hate"? What do you call it when something more significant happens?
Ya , get to that loadstar! Who wants to see a B-58! 😢
Christianpeterson, you are coming off as a graceless and selfish person who can only see things from their own narrow perspective. Guess what? The video has been made the way it was, and you bitching about it does not change things. And a lot of people prefer different aircraft than the ones you happen to like. If you can find a video of this museum that caters more to your personal preferences, then go watch it.
The f-111 Aardvark has always been my favorite airplane. 🛫
Hooray for Varks!
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 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?
That WB-50 is supposedly haunted. OR it may have been Raz'n Hell. I'll have to check when I go again.
Its the B-29 Raz'n Hell however ive been in the WB-50 and have had one of the navigator controls move Infront of my very eyes maybe ole Arthur hops between aircraft lol
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.
ILSRWY4, my oh my, you sure wrote a confused comment. Try and make points and organize thoughts before writing.
I have read your first sentence several times and still can't be sure what you are saying.
As for pronouncing aircraft manufacturer names, there have been BOTH Northrop and a Northrup names in aviation. According to information I have, there has always been quite a bit of latitude in pronunciation of those names. I have been researching aviation my whole life, and have heard both 'rup' and 'rop' pronunciations, and anyway they are very nearly the same sound. If you think I can't be critical on anything because you think I don't pronounce one a particular name the way you think it should be, then your level of pettiness and illogic leaves me uninterested in anything you think.
unlovely highway? why show it? its called editing
Brian Grant, its called having a clue, and sticking with the premise of the endeavor. Perhaps you were unable to read English, but I stated at the start that I was giving ambience to show potential viewers what it is like to get to the museum from the nearest major city. And what good would that be if I just showed the 'lovely' highways? I am amazed by the shallow thinking of some people.
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. .
Stormprooftraining, you are not displaying much mental acuity. If you think the 'lapses' you cite are indicative of the whole, then that is very foolish thinking.
11 minutes of you driving??????
Clifford Woolston, perhaps you did not read my notice at the start that I wanted to show potential museum visitors what they could expect from the long drive to the museum. With that being so clearly explained, what is with your "?????" as if you had not been clued in. And I gave clear notice that anyone who did not want to watch the drive part could skip ahead to the time marker where the museum part begins, so why are you in a lather about it to the point of needing to comment negatively?
And seriously, you should be less selfish. I did not custom make this video for you, and others LIKE the ambience I often put in front of my museum videos.
@@youtuuba Wtf is wrong with people!?!?!?!
@@youtuuba well said (from jolly old England!) People need to read descriptions first before commenting.
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
Ron brown, first, learn to use punctuation when you write; it is a pain for readers to decipher run-on sentences written by careless people. Second, this is a wonderful air museum, certainly not a "big disappointment" to most visitors. A big plus here is that the planed are not so crowded together as they are in most other museums. And they are not quite "rotting away" as you suppose they are. Perhaps you don't get to many air museums, but a LOT of them store the planes outdoors. It is incredibly expensive to find and maintain the many huge hangars required to house so many big aircraft. Put your money where your mouth is, and make a big donation to this museum to add to their maintenance fund. Otherwise, yours is just empty bitching.
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.
Ponykeg, I disagree. I have checked the map since then and it seems to be a fairly direct route. I don't know who you mean by "they", but my GPS selected the route, and one thing GPS navigation algorithms are great at is calculating the shortest or fastest routes.
As for your assertion that I couldn't have gone a worse way, that is obvious nonsense. Of course there a millions of worse ways I could have gone to get there.
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.