The Palm Springs Air Museum is located on the outskirts of the Palm Springs Airport. This is one of the finer collections of WW II aircraft I have seen in recent years. All of them are beautifully restored. The Bob Pond collection is also housed here, and most of those aircraft are in flying condition, along with the museums own flying B-17. One of the few museums where you can see all the Grumman Cats on display, as well as a Vought Kingfisher. You can see my pics from my visit in 2003 here: Palm Springs Air Museum.
The Castle Air Museum is located in Atwater Ca, just minutes north of Merced. Castle is one of the best museums on the west coast, and has the most complete selection of U.S bombers on display outside of the Airforce Museum in Ohio. Some of the rare birds there include a B-36, B-50, B-45, B-18, and a RAF Vulcan bomber. I highly recommend it to anyone who is an aviation buff, you won't be disappointed. The following pictures were taken during my many visits to the museum. Click here to see some of the aircraft at Castle Air Museum .
The Travis Air Force Base Museum is located on Travis AFB. Travis is located in Fairfield California, about 1 hour south of Sacramento. Although not as large as the Castle Air Museum, they do have a nice selection of aircraft. The centerpiece being their recently restored B-29, one of the last ones removed from China lake years ago. Click here to see some of the planes of the Travis Air Museum.
The March Air Face Museum is located just outside of March AFB, in San Bernardino CA, about 1-2 hours outside of Los Angeles. You are greeted at the entrance to the museum by a P-40N mounted on a pole. They have a fairly large collection of aircraft, well worth the visit. There are a number of rare birds at March, including a P-39, P-59, Mig-19, A-9 (fly-off competitor to the A-10), and a P-84. Along with Travis, the March B-29 was one of the last out of China Lake. As you will see in some of the photos, a few of the birds are in need of new paint. The museum was in the process of repainting several planes while I was visiting, and have hopefully finished in the 2 years since my visit. Click here to see some of the planes at March AFB.
During my visit to March AFB, I stumbled upon Dave Tallichets P-38, and P-51 undergoing some routine maintenance. Unfortunatly, I was almost out of film, and was not able to take as many pictures as I would have liked. Click here to see the pics. P38/P51
The Pacific Coast Air Museum is located in Santa Rosa California, about 45 minutes north of San Francisco. Located on the grounds of the Santa Rosa Airport, it is a small growing museum. There is a small number of aircraft on display, most of them jet fighter/attack aircraft, a few transports, and a A-26 Invader under restoration. There is a small indoor museum as well. Although it is a small collection, there are some notable aircraft there, F-16N, RF-86, F-86H, F-8, and an F-105F to name a few. The crew is adding a number of aircraft as well, a T-33, T-38, and T-37 were under restoration while I was there. Well worth the visit if you are in the area. Click here to check out the Pacific Air Museum.
Coming soon............
Western Aerospace Museum