US Military Bone Yard
The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona is home to the largest military aircraft boneyard in the world. The 2,600-acre boneyard currently holds over 3,975 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy-Marine Corps, and NASA.
This is where all the unused and obsolete aircraft are parked in the desert until they can be either sold or scrapped.
Security is tight here and you must submit 10 days in advance to a background check before they will allow you to make a reservation for the boneyard tour.
When entering the base on the tour everyone must exit the bus and wait in a windowless concrete garage type building while they search the bus.
While traveling across the base on your way to the boneyard no photos are allowed
until you enter the boneyard gate.
Cameras and phones will be confiscated if you are caught taking pictures on the base
Once in the boneyard there are row after row after row of aircraft here awaiting their final fate
Hundreds and hundreds of C-130's
Rows of C-5 Galaxies which are large enough to carry several tanks
F16's
F14 TomCats
Air refueling tankers
And acres of Jet Engines
Helicopters
And many, many other aircraft that I couldn't identify
Unfortunately all the rows of B-52 bombers were in an area we could not take photos so
I had to grab the above photo off the internet
Approximately 300 aircraft a year come here to be stored and about 300 a year go out. Of the 300 leaving, some are sold to our allies while about 215 are destroyed for scrap.
All sales generate approximately 1/4 Billion dollars in sale annually.
A Great Day and a very interesting tour
Wow great pics. The clouds add a feeling of melancholy to the scenery
ReplyDeleteYes, the clouds rolling down the surrounding mountains made for some special photos. Thanks for noticing....
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