Castle Air Force Base

Castle Air Force Base was a military installation of the United States Air Force located northeast of Atwater, NW of Merced and about 123 Miles ESE of San Francisco California.

Sign at the front entrance of the discomissioned air base

Merced Army Airfield - November 1942

Castle AFB California - 1982

Three B-52Bs of the 93rd Bomb Wing prepare to depart Castle Air Force Base, Calif., for their record-setting round-the-world flight in 1957

Originally named Merced Army Airfield, the base was renamed in honor of Brigadier General Frederick W. Castle (1908-1944). When on Christmas Eve 1944 near Liege, Belgium, seven Messerschmitts set General Castle's B-17 Flying Fortress afire, he remained at the controls while his crew bailed out. He died with the pilot when the aircraft exploded. General Castle received the Medal of Honor posthumously.

History

World War II

Opened on 20 September 1941, The Air Corps Basic Flying School was operated at what would be Castle Airport. On 8 May 1943 the name of the facility was changed to Merced Army Airfield. The original mission of the facility was a pilot and aircrew training facility by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF).

During World War II, the major host units at Merced were:

• 89th Air Base Gp, 3 November 1941 - 13 June 1942
• 90th Base HQ and Air Base Sq, 13 June 1942 - 1 May 1944
• 3026th AAF Base Unit, 1 May 1944 -1 July 1945
• 446th AAF Base Unit, 1 July 1945 - 27 July 1945
• 482d AAF Base Unit, 27 July 1945 - 15 August 1947

With the end of the war in 1945, Merced Field was assigned to Continental Air Forces on 1 July 1945. The command was redesignated Strategic Air Command on 21 March 1946. The 444th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) arrived on 15 November 1945 from West Field, Tinian with four squadrons (344th, 676th, 677th, and 678th) of wartime B-29s. The 444th operated from Merced for about six months with the 678th BS being redesignated as the 10th Recon Squadron and its aircraft being converted to the RB-29 configuration.

The three B-29 squadrons inactivated at Merced on 6 May 1946 with the 10th RS relocating to Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona where turned in its RB-29 aircraft. The 444th was inactivated on 16 Nov 1947.

93d Bombardment Wing

The 93d Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) was activated at Merced on 21 June 1946, starting a nearly 50 year relationship with the airfield. The 93d was a former Eighth Air Force B-24 Liberator group which was assigned to Merced for Boeing B-29 Superfortress training. The 93rd was one of SAC's first ten bomb groups. There were three initial operational squadrons (328th, 329th, and 330th) which absorbed the equipment and aircraft of the deactivated 444th BG.

On 1 October 1946 the base was put on "minimal operations on caretaker status", with control of the facilty under Colorado Springs AAF. The 93d Bomb Group, however remained active. It, along with the 509th Composite Group at Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico, was all there was of Strategic Air Command at that time. The base remained in this status until 1 May 1947 when it was reactivated.

On 28 July 1947, the 93rd Bombardment Wing, (Very Heavy) was established and took over responsiblity from the group. On 12 July 1948, Merced AAF was renamed Castle Air Force Base. During 1947-1948, it flew B-29s, but soon received the B-50. In 1948, the entire wing deployed to Okinawa, becoming the first Strategic Air Command bomb group to deploy in full strength to the Far East. The B-36 Peacemaker entered SAC's inventory in 1948. The huge plane dwarfed the earlier bombers. The 93rd, along with all other B-29 and B-50 bomb groups was redesignated "Medium." Only the B-36 groups were "Heavy."

The wing began aerial refueling operations in October 1950, providing aerial refueling and navigational assistance for the July 1952 movement of the 31st Fighter-Escort Wing from the United States to Japan, the first jet fighter crossing of the Pacific Ocean, during the Korean War. From 1953 to 1955, the wing flew KC-97s. KC-135s came on line in 1957.

The 93rd Bombardment Wing, Medium, received B-47s in May 1954, but it's involvement with the new Stratojet was curtailed on June 29, 1955, when the wing received the first production line B-52B, making it the first SAC bomb wing to receive the new aircraft. The wing became SAC’s primary B-52 aircrew training organization, incorporating KC-135 aircrew training for refueling in mid-1956. For this purpose, it set up the 4017th Combat Crew Training Squadron which was supposed to handle all B-52 crew training for the next few years. When the mission of B-52 training became too great a task for just one squadron, the Wing's other three squadrons took over the flight training role and the 4017th assumed responsibility for ground instruction in 1956. The 93rd was SAC's primary B-52 training organization. The 93rd retained some of it's B-47s until 1956 for crew training purposes. It was one of the few wings to have both jet bombers.

Notable operations

• Non-stop B-52 flights of some 16,000 nautical miles (29,600 km) around North America and to the North Pole (November 1956)
• First jet aircraft nonstop flight around the world (January 1957)
• Nonstop, unrefueled KC-135 flight from Yokota AB, Japan, to Washington, DC (April 1958).

Although most of the wing’s components were used for B-52 and KC-135 aircrew training between 1956 and 1995, one or more of its units sometimes participated in tactical operations, including aerial refueling.

From April 1968 to April 1974, operated a special B-52 replacement training unit to support SAC’s B-52 operation in Southeast Asia. Won the SAC Bombing and Navigation Competition and the Fairchild Trophy in 1949, 1952, and 1970, and the Omaha Trophy as the outstanding SAC wing in 1970.

In August 1990 the wing operated an aerial port of embarkation for personnel and equipment deploying to Southwest Asia during Desert Shield.

In addition to aerial refueling, tankers ferried personnel and equipment, while B-52s deployed to strategic locations worldwide, including Saudi Arabia. Bombed the Iraqi Republican Guard and targeted Iraqi chemical weapons, nuclear, and industrial plants during Desert Storm, January-February 1991. On 1 June 1992 the wing was relieved from SAC and reassigned to the new Air Combat Command

The 93d Bomb Wing deactivated on 30 September 1995 when Castle Air Force Base was closed.

References

• Endicott, Judy G. (1999) Active Air Force wings as of 1 October 1995; USAF active flying, space, and missile squadrons as of 1 October 1995. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. CD-ROM.
• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
• Mueller, Robert (1989). Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C. ISBN 0912799536; 0160022614
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0912799129.
• Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, England: Midland Publications. ISBN 1-85780-197-0.