Castle Airport

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Castle Airport

IATA: MER - ICAO: KMER
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Merced County - CAED
Serves		Atwater, California
Elevation AMSL		189 ft (57.6 m)
Coordinates		37°22′50″N, 120°34′05″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
13/31	11,802	3,597	Asphalt/Concrete

Castle Airport (IATA: MER, ICAO: KMER) is a public airport located three miles (4.8 km) northeast of Atwater, serving Merced County, California, USA. The airport covers 1,580 acres, has one runway and is mostly used for general aviation. It is located on the site of the former Castle Air Force Base which closed in 1995.

Castle AFB California - 1982

Castle Air Force Base was a military installation of the United States Air Force located northeast of Atwater, 6 mi NW of Merced and about 110 mi ESE of San Francisco California.

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.

1 History
2 Pollution
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Opened on 20 September 1941, the base originally was used as an aircrew training facility by the United States Army in 1941. The Strategic Air Command assumed responsibility for the base in 1946.

Major Operating Units at Castle AFB were:

89th Air Base Gp, 3 November 1941 - 13 June 1942

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
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
93d Bombardment Wing 11 August 1947 - 30 September 1995

The 93d Bomb Wing maintained combat readiness for global strategic bombardment at Castle AFB. The wing’s deployed to Okinawa in 1948, becoming the first Strategic Air Command bomb group to deploy in full strength to the Far East.

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.

IT was the first SAC wing to convert to B-52 aircraft, 1955–1956. Became SAC’s primary B-52 aircrew training organization, incorporating KC-135 aircrew training for refueling in mid-1956.

Notable operations

Non-stop B-52 flights of some 16,000 miles 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.

The 93d Bomb Wing deactivated in 1995 when Castle Air Force Base was closed.

Image:Castle Airport - 93BW WP.jpg

[edit] Pollution

Sign at the front entrance of the discomissioned air base

Since the mid-1940s, aircraft maintenance, fuel management, and fire training activities on the base have generated wastes that consist primarily of waste fuels, oils, solvents, and cleaners. Base activities also have generated lesser amounts of paints and plating wastes.

The EPA currently has this base listed on their database due to the bulk wastes such as solvents, oils, fuels, and sludges which were disposed in pits at landfills around the base until 1977. Fuel and waste oils were incinerated by the Air Force during fire training exercises. The Air Force ceased disposal of hazardous waste on site in 1977, and the base was officially closed in 1995.

EPA Investigations have been completed or are proceeding at multiple areas of contamination including landfills, discharge areas, chemical disposal areas, fire training areas, fuel spill areas, and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) spill areas. Approximately 6,000 people obtain their drinking water from both municipal and private wells located near the site.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Ravenstein, Charles A., Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977, Office of Air Force History, 1984
Mueller, Robert, Air Force Bases Volume I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982, Office of Air Force History, 1989
Endicott, Judy G., USAF Active Flying, Space, and Missile Squadrons as of 1 October 1995. Office of Air Force History
Compass Maps: Merced, Atwater, Merced County
City of Atwater -- Approved Annexations
US Environmental Protection Agency
EPA Superfund Record of Decision, September 9, 2002
Airport Master Record (FAA Form 5010), also available as a printable form (PDF)
Merced County: Castle Airport