page_title: Castle Air Force Base
section_title: Postwar years
hierarchical_section_title: Castle Air Force Base / History / Postwar years
caption_attribution_description: Entrance to Castle Air Force Base. Picture taken on July 12, 2006.
context_page_description: Castle Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command base in California, located northeast of Atwater, northwest of Merced, and about 115 miles south of Sacramento.
  The Central Valley base in unincorporated Merced County was closed in 1995, pursuant to a Base Realignment and Closure Commission decision following the end of the Cold War and the disestablishment of Strategic Air Command. It is now known as the Castle Airport Aviation and Development Center.
context_section_description: With the end of the war 444th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) arrived on 15 November 1945 from West Field, Tinian with four squadrons (344th, 676th, 677th, and 678th) of wartime B-29s. The 444th operated from Merced for about six months with the 678th BS being re-designated as the 10th Recon Squadron and its aircraft being converted to the RB-29 configuration.
  The three B-29 squadrons inactivated at Merced on 6 May 1946 with the 10th Reconnaissance Squadron relocating to Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona where it turned in its RB-29 aircraft. The 444th was inactivated on 16 November 1947.
  During the summer of 1945, when most other air fields were winding down, Merced was expanded to accommodate the large air tankers then programmed to come into service. After the war ended, Merced was home to several air tanker squadrons and remained a training center for pilots and air crews.
caption: Sign at front entrance of deactivated Castle AFB
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