March Field Air Museum

Continuing our February 2015 trip to southern California, we went with to the March Field Air Museum at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County. My uncle, Ed, was once stationed at the base and he accompanied us to the museum along with my cousin, Scott, and his wife, Carita. In the Heritage Courtyard is the Distinguished Flying Cross National Memorial shown above. Unlike most national memorials that are entrusted to the National Park Service, this memorial site is administered by the museum. The museum has enough exhibits to keep an avid military aviation fan content for hours, if not days.

The inscription reads:

We Remember

1st Lt. Joseph Howard Burton, Jr.

In February 1945 Lt. Burton was the aircraft commander of a B-24 Bomber which was on a training mission out of Langley Field, Virginia.

On returning home after completing the mission the aircraft experienced fuel problems. Engine number one and engine number two lost power. The command was given to bail out. Then engine number 3 quit. The co-pilot was told to bail out after the rest of the crew was safely out of the aircraft. The aircraft continued to lose altitude fast. Lt. Burton then attempted to bail out at an extremely low altitude. On hitting the water, he became entangled in the parachute harness and drowned.

This wall is dedicated as a tribute to Lt. Burton and all those other unsung heroes who perished while training for combat.

The inscription reads:

The Airplanes

Spirit of St. Louis

The Spirit of St. Louis is a custome-built single engine, single seat monoplane that was flown solo by Charles Lindbergh on May 20-21, 1927 on the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize. Lindbergh took off in the Spirit from Roosevelt Airfield, Garden City (Long Island), New York and landed 33 hours, 30 minutes later at Le Bourget Aerodrome in Paris France.

Manufactred by Ryan Airlines, San Diego, Ca it is preserved at the National Air and Space Museum

Loening OA-1A

The Pan American flyers flew the Loening OA-1A amphibians which had features of both a landplane and a seaplane by combining the fuselage and hull into a single structure. To allow the propeller to clear the hull, their specially modified Liberty engines were mounted upside down. The OA-1A had a wood interior structure with an aluminum covered fuselage and fabric covered wings. On Dec. 21, 1926 five Pan American aircraft took off from Kelly Field in Texaas to begin the 21,000 mile flight. About halfway through their planned flight as the formation descended into Balomar near Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Detroit accidentally drifted into the New York. Major Dargue and Lt Whitehead parachuted to safety. Capt. Woolsey chose to stay with the helpless Lt.Benton who was on the wing attempting to force their landing gear down. Both perished when both aircraft crashed.

The San Francisco was the only aircraft to complete the entire journey. All flyers received a DFC certificate while their Medals were being made. Charles Lindbergh received the first Medal.

The San Francisco is also preserved at the National Air and Space Museum.

Lt. Gen. James. H. Doolittle
First Commander Fifteenth Air Force

Lockheed C-141B Starlifter

Convair C-131D Samaritan with Cessna T-37 Tweety Bird and Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star

Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker with North American CT-39A Sabreliner

Another view of the KC-135A and the CT-39A

Boeing B-52D being restored

McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom II

Republic F-105D Thunderchief

Boeing KC-97L

Martin EB-57B Canberra on left, McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle on right
and Grumman HU-16E Albatross in the rear

Boeing B-47E Stratojet

Lockeed SR-71A Blackbird

Admission to the museum is $10 for ages 12 and up and $5 for ages 5-11. Active duty military and reserves are admitted free with a DOD ID card. The museum is closed on Mondays.

The museum website is http://www.marchfield.org/.