Comments on: Where airplanes go to die

By: Jessica Hanebutt

Jessica Hanebutt — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 20:03:00 +0000

Yes, there is a smaller scale “boneyard” in Mojave CA at the airport, which is near Edwards AFB. Mojave is also the location of many progressive aerospace startups, as well as Scaled Composites and the Mojave SpacePort. Grab a bite to eat at the aiport cafe, where you just might run into Burt Rutan while watching planes land 100m from your table. It’s a fun day trip for any plane-loving Los Angelenos, only about a 1.5-2 hour drive from N. Hollywood.

By: interesteristing

interesteristing — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 08:41:00 +0000

Hope to go to see this scrapyard one day

By: obbop

obbop — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:51:00 +0000

Finding parts for my Iowa-class battleship is tough.

But real men groove on warships. Wimps want wings like puny little tweety birds.

By: Doubleutf

Doubleutf — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 01:04:00 +0000

Awesome story! My B-52 is taking up my entire garage! I have got to get it up and running. Just kidding, it awesome that he has that…

By: Gilbert Wham

Gilbert Wham — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 23:39:00 +0000

Man, I love scrapyards…

By: Doc Aay

Doc Aay — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 21:19:00 +0000

I actually tracked down this graveyard to check out after reading DeLillo’s “Underworld”. I think there is a facility close to Los Angeles that is very much like the one at Tucson, so I am not sure which is the model. Very cool place, and you were lucky to be there during a rainstorm. It can get so brutally hot on that unshaded pavement. An additional eye-opener were the AirForce Ones as collected.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 21:02:00 +0000

That jukebox looks familiar – I try to maintain it in working order.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:59:00 +0000

That movie was filmed in Tucson, so it would make sense.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:58:00 +0000

My father in law, who flew B-52s in Vietnam, picked up a B-52 steering wheel there. It hangs in his workshop to this day.

He also flew one of the B-52s that’s parked at the Pima Air Museum.

By: Doubleutf

Doubleutf — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:33:00 +0000

This is great info. I need to stop by and pick up a part for my B-52…

By: dmswart

dmswart — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:09:00 +0000

I believe this is the Airplane graveyard featured in Can’t Buy Me Love (1987)

By: alfanovember

alfanovember — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:29:00 +0000

A B-2 did a flyover above San Francisco last year. Not just a level once-over, but a couple of nice banking laps of the bay.

Now, I dig warplanes, but damn – that plane looks like a big, fat blood-filled tick in the sky.

By: Ninabi

Ninabi — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:09:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCA0_bNXAao A local band, Calexico, filmed this music video in Tucson and several segments were shot in the boneyard.
Two years ago, on daily drives past the facility, we watched as a manganese blue and white “Air Somalia” plane was slowly taken apart. We wondered how it ended up in Tucson and what service was like on that airline, long before the country was as troubled as it is today.

By: Aaron Hathaway

Aaron Hathaway — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:05:00 +0000

NAON (nearly apropos of nothing), it continues to perplex me that my grandfather flew bodies home in three different wars (in C-130s during Vietnam), but remained warhawkish to his death. Impressive planes though. Their scale is cartoonish.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:53:00 +0000

do you mean “tucson”?

By: BillStewart2012

BillStewart2012 — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:53:00 +0000

I visited there about 5 years ago, and they were dismantling ICBMs in accordance with the nuclear disarmament treaties with the Russians. Yay!

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:52:00 +0000

It’s just part of the landscape here in Tucson, although I do take delight in flying over it when I get the chance. It’s a bit hard to see from the streets. Nicely complements the nearby automobile graveyards.

Some of the aircraft are sealed against the weather with that white plastic film, left in a state of suspended animation so that they may be returned to service if needed. They are parked in neat rows. There are others that are dismantled as needed to keep their brethren flying.

The Google map pictures are rather awe-inspiring.

By: Fogbert

Fogbert — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:44:00 +0000

I do too.

By: Toffer99

Toffer99 — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:39:00 +0000

Actual: The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG).
I think my version is better.

By: Fogbert

Fogbert — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:24:00 +0000

Or TFFCDASRNOA for short.

By: Toffer99

Toffer99 — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:16:00 +0000

The Pima Museum next door is where you can catch a tour bus which takes you all over the Boneyard site which is massive. Both are well worth a visit. But the operators don’t call it the Boneyard -that would be too familiar and disrespectful. Instead they call it something like The Facility for Careful Dismantling and Storage of Really Nice Old Aircraft.

By: jkonrath

jkonrath — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:14:00 +0000

Throw “kolb and irvington, tuscon, az” into google maps and see this massive airplane graveyard in all its glory.

By: deviceofmind

deviceofmind — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:09:00 +0000

I think DeLillo’s “Underworld” has a great scene about this place, or one like it in the Southwest – one of many great scenes in his book. Wonder if it’s this place, or another like it.