Warbird Information Exchange

My buddies and I did a day trip to Castle Air Museum and they had a stairwell up into the KC-97 they had. So we hurried on up to check it out. I did get too excited and I forgot to take a picture of the outside however So here are the interior photos







Enjoy!!

Wow, looks ready to fly!

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Looks to be in great shape to me as well.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Very cool pic of the boom operator's prone position that they worked from.

From what I understand, It was a reserve unit when it was deactivated and they flew it in to Castle. Each aircraft there is assigned a volunteer to maintain, clean and repair when it is necessary so it is kept in almost tip top shape.

I know its against the msueum policy, but wouldnt it be great if they could keep the aircraft electrically live??

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Cheers,
Peter

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It would be cool. I had the chance to get into a few of the aircraft at the NMUSAF, I always feel that it is an honor to be in one of them.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Great? Yeah I think it would. But the safety monster reers it's ugly head at the possiblity of something shorting out and causing a fire. At the least procedures for periodic maintenance and additional safety features would need to be implemented. But yes it would be cool.



I loved it when I worked there, especially when they would open up aircraft for the christmas party.

I got to crawl through "Strawberry Bitch", "ShooShoo Baby", the "Peacemaker" (I was surprised that alot of cockpit stuff was missing).

The ME 262 was my favorite although be it a tight fit (small German pilots I guess) . Then they also had the A-10, F-117, SR-71 and a couple of others. I wish they had had more aircraft open.

Good Times

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Was Bockscar open?

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Not for the Christmas Party.

But it did get openned for Fred Olivi who visited the museum after hours a month prior in 94'. A real honor to meet him.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Very cool stuff Shay. A lot of stuff has been put in the cockpits recently. When was that that you were in them last. I was in the B-17 and B-24, and they were complete.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

This was the christmas of 1994. I was only referring to the B-36 cockpit being devoid of alot of equipment.

The B-17 and B-24 were complete and looked very factory fresh.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

When I was in the B-36, the instrument panel was complete. It looked mostly there, but I am not an expert on the B-36. I am so glad that after next year, the entire collection will be indoors and on the same side of the field. As for this KC-97 in the pics, I swear she could fly.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager