Castle Airport is a public use airport located seven nautical miles northwest of the central business district of Merced, a city in Merced County, California, United States. It is operated by the Merced County Department of Commerce, Aviation, and Economic Development.
The airport is located at the former Castle Air Force Base which closed in 1995. This land is owned jointly by the city of Merced, city of Atwater and the county of Merced. Until 2007 this land was administered by the JPA or Joint Powers Administration.
It serves one school, Sierra Academy of Aeronautics, which specializes in training foreign pilots, from the People's Republic of China. Activity related to this school makes up the majority of the air traffic at Castle. In early 2007, the control tower was reopened to handle increased training traffic.
Castle Air Museum is 500 yards away, displaying over 50 restored World War II, Korean War, and Cold War era aircraft. Among the exhibit highlights are a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the world's fastest manned aircraft, and the massive Convair RB-36 Peacemaker, the only surviving reconnaissance variant of the largest bomber ever built for the United States Air Force.
