MARCH FIELD MUSEUM

[Grant]

Today after the Rose Bowl I drove out to Riverside, CA to visit the March Field Museum. I didn't realize March dates back to 1917 when the Army started training pilots for WWI to today with it still being an active base. Jimmy Dolittle and Hap Arnold were also base commanders at one time. During WWII it's secluded location was used as the test site for the P-38.The museum has a number of cool flight jackets including a WWI issue jacket and a number of original A-2's. It's well worth the trip to check out a number of rare aircraft on outdoor display. Sorry for the fuzzy photos - all I had with me was my camera phone.

 

[Anonymous]

Great place, been there myself. That second jacket looks like goatskin?

Did you happen to see any C-17's take off or land on the active runway?

The runway at March is huge, you can see it from miles away at altitude, great landmark.

 

[Andrew]

Isn't that "Virgils Virgins" a stunner- thanks for positing these Grant, looks like an excellent Museum.

 

[Stony]

I too have been to March Field before and they do have some cool planes and artifacts. Did you go a few doors down to the P-38 museum? Lots of cool stuff there too.

 

[Grant]

Stony,
Yeah, I did check it out and you're right, there's a ton of cool P-38 related stuff to check out.

 

[srivats]

Grant, thanks for sharing these photos ... the place looks awesome ... I've never been to CA before, will try to go here when I make a trip ...

 

[jack aranda]

I went to grad school at UC Riverside, just down the hill from March. I lived in married student housing on the north edge of campus. These were small, flat-roofed duplex bungalows that were built around 1940 as pilot quarters for March. Originally, the flat roof with its parapet was meant to be flooded with water as air-conditioning (!) during the long, hot Riverside summers. By the time I got there in the mid-80's this was not happening, and one either bought a swamp cooler or sweltered. The whole compound was fenced, apart from the rest of the U; there were shade trees everywhere, and the whole place was green with lawn, watered endlessly with the precious liquid, stolen from northern California. (Ooh, those SoCal water bandits! :x )

One day, a woman in her late forties came by our home with a very-much older woman, her mother. She asked if I minded her taking a picture or two of them sitting on the front steps. She'd lived in 'our' bungalow as a little girl when her dad was a pilot at March. She had fond memories of the place. So do I.