The Boneyard

joewicklow

I think some of you might be interested in this,

http://www.placehacking.co.uk/2011/12/15/military-infiltration-boneyard/

Jesus Nut

Cool link.
I think this is the same place? Go to 5:05 mins in -->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQXknr4nH5k

coylemj

It's called Davis-Monthan AFB, it's easy to find manually on Google Maps or Google Earth as follows....

Zoom in to the ....

1. Southwest USA
2. State of Arizona
3. At the southern end of Arizona find the city of Tucson
4. Tucson International airport is south of the city centre
5. NE of the civilian airport on the other side of highway 10 is Davis-Monthan AFB
6. Zoom in to the area east of the AFB runway and (in Google Maps) switch to satellite view.

Official website: http://www.dm.af.mil/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%E2%80%93Monthan_Air_Force_Base

jimbis

Or just type Davis-Monthan AFB into Google maps and let it find it .

Link

Actually, why did the lads in the op's link have such trouble finding somewhere to park their car? Seems like a built up area!

Nissan doctor

The lads in the opening post weren't in davis-monthan. That the southern california logistics airport. Its outside Victorville, just off Route 66 too.

I drove a dirt road from Oro grande(few miles out from Victorville) and eventually got to the perimeter fence beside the storage area where these planes are parked. Was there for about half an hour before being 'asked to leave' by a nice member of the US military.:eek:

kub

So neatly parked....perfect, easy knowing the military were involved.

Nissan doctor

kub wrote: »

So neatly parked....perfect, easy knowing the military were involved.

AFAIK the company who looks after them is private, it just happens that there is also a military base at the airport.

http://www.logisticsairport.com/page.aspx

Nibs05

http://www.silentuk.com/?p=3374

seanmacc

I often wondered why any of these planes were kept in these graveyards and not broken up for scrap. There obviously is an economic demand for keeping them there otherwise they just wouldn't be there. Is there any chance of any of them ever been recommissioned?

Tenger

seanmacc wrote: »

I often wondered why any of these planes were kept in these graveyards and not broken up for scrap. There obviously is an economic demand for keeping them there otherwise they just wouldn't be there. Is there any chance of any of them ever been recommissioned?

I think that some of them are left in storage as a source of spare parts for still flying examples. It still costs money to break them up and sort the materials, so they may only do this when they have a buyer for the debris. In theory quite a few of these could be recommissioned, however the chances of anyone wanting some 2nd hand B737 classics/L-1011's/B727's etc are a bit low.

Over the last year BA have brought back 3-4 of their B744's that were sent 'to the desert' a few years back. However I do not know if they were in this spot or another. The dry desert air prevents corrosion of vital parts of the aircraft.

Turbulent Bill

I think that some of the military boneyards are actually required by US/Russian disarmament treaties - the decommissioned aircraft must be in plain sight to be monitored by spy satellites etc. I've seen pictures of B-52s etc. with their wings chopped off to prove they're out of service.

Commercial stuff is just for storage (newish aircraft) or for parts scavenging.

Nissan doctor

Tenger wrote: »

I think that some of them are left in storage as a source of spare parts for still flying examples. It still costs money to break them up and sort the materials, so they may only do this when they have a buyer for the debris. In theory quite a few of these could be recommissioned, however the chances of anyone wanting some 2nd hand B737 classics/L-1011's/B727's etc are a bit low.

Over the last year BA have brought back 3-4 of their B744's that were sent 'to the desert' a few years back. However I do not know if they were in this spot or another. The dry desert air prevents corrosion of vital parts of the aircraft.

Do I remember in cityjets early years some of the 146's they got came from desert storage and they had reliability problems with them?

xflyer

I think reliability problems are a feature of the 146s with our without storage.;)

tricky D

Tenger wrote: »

Over the last year BA have brought back 3-4 of their B744's that were sent 'to the desert' a few years back. However I do not know if they were in this spot or another. The dry desert air prevents corrosion of vital parts of the aircraft.

Then there's the civvie graveyard near Marana which is about 32 miles NW of Tuscon just south off I10. That's Marana, about 10 miles NW of Marana town, not Avra Valley (GA) which is just outside Marana. There's an ex-EI jumbo there too in the background of one of the GE/Panoramio photos.