RVing Beach Bums: March Field ARB Museum, Riverside, CA

From Wiki: The March Field Air Museum is an aviation museum near Moreno Valley and Riverside, California, adjacent to March Air Reserve Base. OK, we camped here for three nights at the March Field ARB FAMCAMP and while it was basically a parking lot for short tremors, that was ok. We were glad they had 50A service, cause it was hot, in the nineties.

Just about a half mile as the crow flies and two miles by way of one exit down the interstate, we spent about three hours walking thru the Museum. Wow, did they have a lot of stuff, as you see below, and we didn't even snap pics of all they had, not even close.

Not sure what all these aircraft designations are, but some of my old retired bus-driver Air Force friends (ex friends probably after that comment) may well be able to rattle off the type of each one.

I do know B-52 and C-141 Stratofortress (I rode one of these to Viet Nam from Travis to Clark, via Guam in '69)

We did take pics of the signage of a lot of aircraft, but I am not sure if they line up correctly as I loaded them into this blog. Apologies to my followers..

This a C-141, and may be the one I road in, who knows. I do remember how cold it was up at 35,000 with no heat, sitting sideways in net seats up against the fuselage, with cargo from one to the other stacked to the top. And I also remember the crew up in their little penthouse with hot coffee and heat with the curtains pulled to. Long trip to the PI's.

Blackbird, SR71, super stealth, super sonic, super high, super resolute pics

A memorial to all the canine "friends" who served their country with the Air Force. The tiles are folks who have purchased the right to place their "friend's" name for all to see.

These series of letters and communique were from a young man who served during WWII and has a sad ending as you read thru.

Nice that family was willing to share these with the museum. My utmost thank you to all our folks who have served in America's fighting force.

I'm not normally the museum type, but I would offer that the older we get along, the more likely we want to attach and grab a piece of that history that we may have passed by or ignored during those times in our lives when we were just too busy. After all, a lot of us made these museums possible. :-)

I'm not saying we are relics though.

Above, March Field, about 1930 I think.

My neck of the woods, Viet Nam era...except I was on an Aircraft Carrier on the Tonkin Gulf (Yankee Station as it was called), CVA-19, USS Hancock, Sept/69-Apr/70

MIG's

Below, a MIG-23, like the one that buzzed our carrier at super sonic speed, breaking the sound barrier as he buzzed us, then went vertical...we were not doing flight ops at the time, but we went to GQ nonetheless, after our ship quit quivering from the sound shock wave. Frightening to say the least. We never launched aircraft as he was long gone. But a little message from the bad guys: We could have had you if we wanted to. But I reckoned that if they hit one of these bird farms, they would be in deep trouble. This guy came in at 100 feet off the water, below radar and flying at Mach 1 or better, watches had no chance of seeing it soon enough.

It was hot and sunny and hot...

F4-B I think...note the one below and who piloted it.

Miss Nancy blazing the dusty trail...

Note the folks up on the wing of the B-52 above, and the wheel on the end of the wing, to hold it up under the weight of all the fuel in the wings during takeoffs.

And here is my C-141 again, above and below. We read a sign that said this plane could be rented by local scouts and youth to hold birthday parties and club meetings.