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We had seven members and guests in attendance for our SoCalASL Field Trip to March Field Museum in Riverside. Eric Visnowski, Dave Nicholas, Geoff Coward and his fiancé Caroline, John Lehman and his wife Kathy joined me for a tour of one of So. California’s best kept military history museums. The weather was quite unseasonable; 73 degrees with a light rain in the afternoon. Who would have guessed that?
March Field Museum has a very strong volunteer group that has continued its steady improvement over the last 20 years. I hadn’t visited in about 3 years, and was quite surprised to see the museum building had been expanded to over twice its size and the entire collection reorganized. Another addition since I’d last been there was “Fire Base Charlieâ€, a recreation of a Vietnam-era fire base, complete with an attack helicopter.
Perhaps the highlight was a visit to the P-38 hanger, where we met retired Lt. Col. Richard Carlton. Lt Col Carlton flew combat missions over N. Africa during W.W.II in a P-38, and later flew P-47’s and P-51’s. After the war he stayed in the service and piloted bombers for the U. S. Air Force. Still pretty spry and clear-headed at the age of 96! He was a pleasure to meet and speak to.
March Field has over 70 aircraft, dating from W.W.I through the 1990’s. It has a very nice collection of Sabres and Mig’s. The collection also includes an SR-71 Blackbird, a B-17 (fully restored) and a full-scale replica of a P-38 in its own hanger with some very interesting displays. The museum is also kid friendly; they have an area for the kids to try out jump seats and dress and uniform.
After touring the museum we headed over to the “Steer and Stineâ€, a beef and beer place that was surprisingly good (excellent in fact) and cheap. We wrapped up about 5:30. It was a great outing, and I want to thank everyone who came out for the fun.
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