Valley film buffs are quick to note that Stanley Kubrick's legendary film Dr Strangelove - features Kingsburg actor Slim Pickens as a B-52 pilot riding a hydrogen bomb like a cowboy on the way to mutually assured destruction. Of course, Kubrick’s film was a piece of fiction. But there's a very real part of local Cold War history just up Highway 99. The story of Castle Air Force Base today on KVPR's Central Valley Roots.
Located just north of Merced in the town of Atwater, the base was first known as the Army Air Corps Basic Flying School Merced. It began operations in 1941, just before America entered the Second World War, training future pilots and air crew. It was later renamed Merced Army Airfield. After the war it continued operations and was renamed again for Brigadier General Frederick Castle who died at the controls of his B-17 over Germany during the war. Castle was the godson of Air Force founder General Hap Arnold.
During the Cold War, Castle Air Force base became a part of the Strategic Air Command, being the primary training base for B-52 bomber crews. That continued until the SAC was shut down in 1992, with the end of the Cold War. Castle Air Force Base closed in 1995 in a wave of downsizing of the military. Today the Castle Air Museum, Castle Airport and Castle Commerce Center continue the legacy of the base in Merced County.
