Why Aircraft Boneyards Exist in the First Place

"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit) 08/05/2014 at 10:35 • Filed to: aircraft boneyards, planelopnik, amarg

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A long time ago (and by that I mean this past weekend) I did !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! about the various economic and engineering factors that determine at what point an airliner retires and gets sent to the boneyard.

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A lot of people much more informed and educated than I chimed in about various things like tensile strengths (including some useful graphs!) and their own experiences in operating and maintaining the old beasts of the air. Quite a few of you had some pretty insightful and informative questions as well. In fact there has been one question that many of you have asked in particular:

Why do airplane boneyards even exist in the first place? There's all this metal sitting around, why not chop it up and turn it into something useful? Or some variation thereof, but pretty closely conforming to this statement.

Because I've been asked this particular question so many times, and because Ugh! There's been literally a dozen other people asking me this! Why do you guys keep asking me this?! isn't a very productive answer, I've written this follow-up to delve (just a little, in very general terms) more into the operations of a typical aircraft boneyard.

AMARC/AMARG

A 1992 U.S Geological Survey Aerial Photograph of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, AZ.

AMARG (or AMARC) is the ultimate Boneyard and in fact the facility that more or less set the pattern for all future mass aircraft reclamation centers, both military and civilian. Previously more formally known as the Aerospace Maintenance and Reclamation Center, it's now the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Reclamation Group and is based at Davis-Monthan AFB just outside of Tuscon Tucson . The facility was established as a "Boneyard" in 1946 right after WWII - the US had thousands of propeller-driven aluminum aircraft produced during the war years, in many cases coming off the production line well after peace was declared and flown straight to the desert. The war was over, and many if not most of these aircraft had instantly become obsolete with jet aircraft. At the same time, immediately scrapping so many aircraft was a logistical nightmare and non-starter right off the bat, and with so many of these aircraft still very new and with a potential new Soviet threat right around the corner, there was a great hesitation to simply melt everything down. The solution was to rope off a huge chunk of sun-parched dirt adjacent to one of the major Air Force training bases and park the aircraft there (with other, similar centers such as Kingman AFB also hosting boneyards). Davis-Monthan and other similar bases in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and California were ideal for aircraft storage as these desolate and isolated areas had almost zero property value and were already owned by the US Government; the low-humidity climate acted as a natural preservative for the aluminum especially (UV-sensitive materials such as plexiglas, rubber and other plastics or composites are treated with a material called "Spray-Lat" which as the name implies is directly sprayed on, forming a white protective layer of latex), and being located at major airbases meant all the logistical support needed would be available in a pinch.

As it turned out, there was a fair bit of wisdom in the Air Force keeping and preserving all these unwanted planes after all. Many of these planes, such as P-51s and F4U Corsairs, were exported overseas to our allies. The Republic of Korea Air Force, the Republic of China Air Force, the Turkish Air Force, the Aeronautica Militarie (or Italian Air Force if you don't want to be fancy, the Armee de la'Air (the French) and many others all received ex-American warplanes from existing stocks from the end of WWII to, well, today. All these and many others still received parts taken off of planes stored in boneyards which, thanks to the desert, were practically new (or at least still functional with many hours left). Parts also went back into the USAF's fleet, and as these aircraft carcasses were stripped of everything useful, they were typically shredded by backhoe or other heavy equipment and the remains unceremoniously trucked off to smelting.

Scores of obsolete aircraft at Davis-Monthan, image from Mike Freer via Wikipedia, used under GNU Free Document License

Having a ready fleet of even obsolete aircraft is very useful. Besides selling them off to other nations (in place of more sensitive or expensive equipment) many of these aircraft end up repurposed into new roles. The F-4 Phantom II defended carrier fleets and the entire nation, but they also served a very useful and important role post-retirement as target drones testing new weapons system or helping to train the next generation of crack fighter pilots (often being reused again and again by simply keeping the warheads off or using electronically simulated attacks). A cargo operator often doesn't care if the plane has spinning props or fancy jets, and many if not most of the DC-3s flying today are actually C-47 Skytrains that formerly served in the Army Air Force or Air Force - and were preserved thanks to boneyards. This goes doubly so for just about every American-sourced warbird or museum display type you see (there are few exceptions, but if you happen to see the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! you have the boneyard to thank). So as you can see, boneyards have an active role in aircraft historical preservation and aerospace archaeology (yes, aerospace archaeology is a thing).

Southern California Logistics Airport

Retired airliners parked at Victorville Airport just outside of Victorville, CA. Image from Bobak Ha'Eri via Wikipedia, used under Creative Commons License

The Southern California Logistics Airport (also known as Victorville Airport) is one of the many civilian equivalents of AMARG at Davis-Monthan. Formerly George AFB (which had also served a boneyard function for the Air Force), it was decommissioned in 1992 for use by the locals including as an airline destination. At the same time, there was also recognition of the need for the facility's continued use as a boneyard for civilian aircraft, namely large airliners. Since its conversion into a civilian airport (though still operated by the Air Force) Victorville has been home to static fleets of airliners awaiting their fate.

For most of them, that fate is to be stripped of parts and shredded. New parts for airliners are very expensive, and it's far cheaper to strip them off an existing airliner. Thus, airlines have their own equivalent of an automotive junkyard where they can shop for good, usable parts on the cheap and pass the savings on to the customer. Paradoxically, this has meant that certain airframes (like Boeing 737-600s and Airbus A318s, which are too small for most airlines to turn a profit on but nonetheless share the same parts as their larger brothers) are actually worth more as a collection of parts than they are as whole aircraft. This isn't the fate of every aircraft to rest at Victorville, however. Many do get "rehabbed" and sent back into active service, sometimes with the same airline that put that plane in the desert in the first place, sometimes with another operator overseas.

In this way, both military and civilian boneyards save money just like how the local junkyard allows yourself to collect parts for your own transportation means. And just as with many older cars, it's often the only viable way to get spares for older aircraft that have long outlasted their own production lines. Aircraft boneyards don't just supply parts - they also supply local jobs and economical and environmentally-conscious means of recycling old airliners into new goods as well as keeping current fleets flying.

505Turbeaux > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 10:39

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Love this series!

McMike > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 10:53

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B-47, right?

Leadbull > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 11:20

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Hey, Matt...

Hire this dude.

Ash78, voting early and often > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 11:46

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That B-36 in the lead pic makes me want to cry.

Anyone want to open a hotel? We'll call it the Giant SAC or something appropriately puerile .

As Long as There is Beer I'm There. > Leadbull 08/05/2014 at 11:49

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Before He ends up in a Writer Graveyard, and then gets picked up by an over seas company at a bargain price.

InsertBullets > Ash78, voting early and often 08/05/2014 at 11:51

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That is a B-47 Bomber, note the fighter style bubble cockpit.

Breetai369 > Ash78, voting early and often 08/05/2014 at 11:51

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That lead pic plane is a B-47.....the B-36 had a wing much further aft and straight.

Wagons-Midwest > McMike 08/05/2014 at 11:52

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Yeah, along with a T33. Not sure how many useful parts are on those, anymore.

sumfoo1 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 11:53

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This is really cool stuff...

going through their site i found this

http://www.amarcexperience.com/ui/index.php?o…

and a few more planes i'd love to buy if i were rich.

Ash78, voting early and often > InsertBullets 08/05/2014 at 11:58

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Good call, can't believe I missed that. Saw no engines, assumed it was a pusher. The leading edge of the B-36 wing was swept, though (trailing edge straight).

So we'll make it a tiny boutique hotel!

jariten1781 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 11:59

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Don't know if it's the same in the airplane worlds, but ships are often held in their floating graveyards as speculation. Storage costs are small enough that project managers will hold on to them waiting for the price of scrap to rise then sell them.

Icchan > Ash78, voting early and often 08/05/2014 at 12:09

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Don't fret, Ash. Right across the street at Pima Air & Space Museum is a fully rebuilt late model Peacemaker with the full "two turning, two burning, two smoking, two joking, two missing" pack. I got a picture of it at a distance a few years ago, and was very pleased to hear she'd been finished since.

JimEmery > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 12:10

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This picture is from google maps satellite view of Davis-Monthan.

Look at all the B-52 carcasses chopped up - I believe this is to comply with the SALT II treaty, they leave the carcasses of the planes out so that the Russians can verify destruction with satellites. No doubt these were the oldest, least-desirable B-52s in inventory, but arms-control treaties are another reason why you see planes in the boneyard.

Harris_the_Unknowing > Ash78, voting early and often 08/05/2014 at 12:13

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There are pieces of B-47s in the Peacemakers stool......cause it is SO DAMN BADASS.

If you haven't seen one in person...well..you should.

DarthDuster > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 12:14

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A couple of other points - some of the aircraft at AMARC are up to date and kept in storage as a contingency in case the Germans someone starts mucking about about again and operational front line aircraft numbers need to be increased *reasonably* quickly.

Also when aircraft have been destroyed as part of strategic arms treaties, AMARC is where it is done and witnessed by the other side.

McMike > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 12:23

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This is my favorite part of AMARC.

Autolegend86 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 12:23

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2014

Vs 1992

Gamecat235 > sumfoo1 08/05/2014 at 12:26

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In April of 2013 the D-21's were in plain sight:

(from here: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/tucson-amarg-3… )

I didn't see them at this years 5k, but things get moved at AMARG quite a bit.

Buckus > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 12:32

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Couple of points: First of all, it's "Tucson" not "Tuscon"

Secondly, the Davis-Monthan boneyard has an adjacent Air and Space museum, and includes among other craft three B-52's and one SR-71, plus two of the former Air Force One aircraft. You used to be able to take a tour of the later one, but I guess not anymore.

Reverted > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 12:35

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It's "Tucson" not "Tuscon". Probably should fix that.

As a kid I always wanted my dad to drive down Kolb just so I could look at the aircraft boneyard as we drove by. Such amazing pieces of engineering history are in there.

BlippityBloppity > DarthDuster 08/05/2014 at 12:36

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prisoners > sumfoo1 08/05/2014 at 12:43

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FYI: Apparently the site only allows a limited number of times to browse the nearly endless models and variants in one day. That's frustrating because i was all set to waste an entire morning at work looking at this.

JimEmery > DarthDuster 08/05/2014 at 12:46

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It's interesting to see how recent some of the aircraft are- Here are some B-1's and F-18's at AMARC visible on google maps:

SoManyBlueCars > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 12:51

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Many jets share common parts, so even if for example a NACES ejection seat was taken out of an F-14, it could go in a jet with the same seat. The Tomcats were all shredded, but you get the idea.

SOMA Drive > McMike 08/05/2014 at 12:57

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Took me a second to read the sign and got the joke... Very cool, wonder if those are even really the tires for the F117

timgray > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 12:57

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Always wanted to buy an old C-5 and reassemble it on a commercial lot as a Gas station with a car wash and tire center that you drive through the plane for the car wash, and the engine pods held the gas pumps below them.

Would be the coolest gas station on theplanet.

npg > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 13:00

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In case anybody wants to go exploring.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.15382…

McMike > SOMA Drive 08/05/2014 at 13:02

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Probably not. Plenty of parts around.

Blake307 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 13:08

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Its scary to think how many billions of dollars are sitting here

Gabe > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 13:28

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What is security like in these places? I am sure there are collectors that would love to jump the fence and grab a few parts. Also, I can imagine Iran has probably tried at some point to grab some F-14 parts to repair theirs.

Darigaaz > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 13:37

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It's behind me..isn't it?

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > McMike 08/05/2014 at 13:38

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That's fucking brilliant.

JCAlan > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 13:41

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The front fell off.

ToastedTires > SOMA Drive 08/05/2014 at 13:42

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I remember seeing this display at numerous air shows in the 90s. I think it's a way of retiring the joke.

That Romanian Guy > McMike 08/05/2014 at 14:16

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It's invisible.

Mattbob > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 14:23

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Soon.

JustinAten > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 14:27

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Please also explain how these boneyards will come in handy when a grim future war consumes all of our state-of-the-art fighter jets and tough-as-nails battle-scarred pilots will climb aboard reactivated obsolete cold-war jets to continue the fight. That will be a very important use for these boneyards in my imagination and probably a J.J. Abrams movie.

Bleary > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 16:23

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Excellent article, I really enjoyed it.

There's something so intriguing about these places.

simon_prickett > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/05/2014 at 16:39

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A lot of 757s (esp United) end up at Victorville to come back as Fedex freighters, or as parts for the Fedex fleet.

Dick Johnsonrod > McMike 08/05/2014 at 17:45

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I'm so glad someone has a great enough sense of humor that they actually took the time to do put all this together and the powers-that-be have allowed it to happen, because why not. Pretty damn funny.

Jarrodrex > timgray 08/05/2014 at 18:09

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The cars could just drive up the front fill up inside and drive out the back. You won't even have to install a tank because the C5 would hold a shit ton of gas. You would have to find a pretty big lot it would take up a ton of space.

yurikaze > JustinAten 08/05/2014 at 18:51

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So something along these lines?

thomasmac > Jarrodrex 08/05/2014 at 18:54

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Destructive Tester > SOMA Drive 08/05/2014 at 19:49

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I wouldn't be surprised if those are F-117 wheels and tires. As I recall, they share landing gear with the F-15 which isn't exactly uncommon.

DKos > McMike 08/05/2014 at 22:03

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The F-117 used gear from F-15s, so it could be correct equipment

OutOfHere > McMike 08/05/2014 at 22:42

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I remember not seeing that. Too funny.

greyedpheonix > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/06/2014 at 01:53

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To tie into this, Federal agencies like the BLM, that National Guard, U.S. forest service and even CalFire will buy up older aircraft like some of the C-130s, S2ts and OV-10s (I would love to know someone that owns a bronco, they're like a turboprop version of the A-10) and a few DC-10s (which btw you know it's a really bad fire when those start spooling up) that then get converted into airtankers or keep their observational role (OV-10s) specifically for wildfires. This isn't just limited to planes though, UH-1s and a few other helicopters also get bought up and brought into service as well.

Sean Malloy > Ash78, voting early and often 08/06/2014 at 10:22

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A partially-stripped bomber in a boneyard isn't as depressing as the photographs from a book on the history of the P-38 Lightning showing dozens of nearly-new aircraft being bulldozed into a ravine in Alaska because the Army Air Force didn't think they were worth the fuel to fly them back after the WWII ended.

SubiSanchez > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/06/2014 at 17:07

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Sometimes planes don't make it off the runway before they're scraped.

Atlantian > As Long as There is Beer I'm There. 08/06/2014 at 21:08

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>over seas

Like CarThrottle?

bariki > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/07/2014 at 07:44

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Soooo, let's say, hypothetically I wanted to steal a mothballed F4... What would be the best way to do it?

As Long as There is Beer I'm There. > Atlantian 08/07/2014 at 11:18

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too soon...

I kid.

monstertwin1203 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/08/2014 at 15:39

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They don't exist as the backdrop for the best movie ever... Con Air?

clmixon > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 08/10/2014 at 17:14

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This appears to be one of the original YB-52's based on the tandem cockpit....if this pic is recent , it should be in a museum, not cut apart in the boneyard....

MrPseudonym > McMike 08/11/2014 at 00:03

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Holy sh

Dadu > SOMA Drive 08/13/2014 at 23:39

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F-16s, F-117, same same....