Jimmy Doolittle Air & Space Museum, Travis AFB, CA, USA - 10/02/2007

Another grey, wet day in California. It was Saturday and our plan for the day involved driving to Travis AFB where access had been arranged to the splendid Jimmy Doolittle Air & Space museum collection there.

Of note amongst their haul of exhibits is Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Miss America 62", who saw service in both World War II and the Korean War, Boeing B-52D Stratofortress "Twilight D'light", and an F-105D Thunderchief, both of whom were Vietnam veterans, as well as a Sikorsky CH-34A Choctaw whose service career saw operation with a US Army Presidential Support Unit.

One of my favourite exhibits from the collection was "Golden Bear", a C-141B Starlifter painted in the original white and grey Military Airlift Command (MAC) colour scheme.

"Golden Bear" has an impressive history. She was the first operational C-141 Starlifter to enter service with the USAF, and participated in every major military contingency and humanitarian operation in which Travis participated around the globe. In 1973, she brought home 566 military and 25 civilian prisoners of war from North Vietnam.

A type I saw so often as I was growing up, these were my first digital images of a now sadly withdrawn from service member of the USAF inventory.

Since 9/11 access to the museum has been closed to the general public unless prior appointment is made. Consequently I extend my sincere thanks to everyone who made our attendance possible.

Conscious of the weather over the Sierra Nevada mountain range, we elected to start the drive towards Reno rather than continuing into San Fransisco.