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Anybody want to buy an airforce


VMA131Marine

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I just love Google Earth. This is a tiny part of Davis Monthan AFB in Arizona. There are nearly 100 complete-ish F4 Phantoms in this shot. I didn't try to count the T-38's. There's also an RB-57F and a slightly mutilated KC-135.

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Here's the overhead view of the whole base:

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The civilian equivalent to Davis Monthan - Pinal Airpark - has relatively few aircraft in comparison:

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Edited by VMA131Marine
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...and a few of them Phantoms from ground level, last April:

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An amazing place.

Another place to see commercial a/c at rest is Kingman, AZ. Started as a D-M equivalent post-WWII, but has been storing civvie a/c for about 20 years now.

Edited by Paul Bradley
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It makes you wonder at what point do a bunch of out-dated, time ravaged airframes from the 60s & 70s on which most if not all of the flight & maintenance skillset has retired or died becomes a bit of a white elephant that is just taking up space (of which AZ has lots). It also makes you realise where all the money goes. :hmmm:

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Many millions of Dollar are saved / made by AMARC every year. Lots of information on the net, just Google it. A B-52 was recently returned to service after many years of storage, so the system does work. Parts reclaimed and returned to service save the US military in the purchase of new parts for types still in front line use. Airframes are also held past their US service retirement for sale to foreign military and other government agencies. Its not just a scrap yard.

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Oh I know they said that, but I'm sure I heard they'd gone and formed a new squadron using them, or was that the usual rumour & supposition that surrounds anything these days. :rolleyes:

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The bus trip is good, but it isn't like the old days when you were allowed to get off the bus at some points. Now, it's a bit like a non-stop tour of London - "Coming up on your right..." done in air-conditioned comfort in a standard tour bus. Still impressive and worth the time, though.

D-M doesn't have a gift shop - it is an active base and you cannot get off the bus, but there's a gift shop at the Pima Air & Space Museum, which is where the bus tours now operate from. The shop has your standard kiddy toys, t-shirts and knick-knacks, a few models and books, but there is also a small collection of parts from various aircraft. The issue was that most were not identified, so you didn't know if the instrument or electronic box was from a T-37 or F-14, and their prices were a bit much, I thought.

Some more shots of how the Boneyard was in April. This first shot shows the RB-57 and mutilated KC-135 from the original post!

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More shots - can you spot all the types?

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As you can tell, there are lots of internal reflections from the tour bus windows, and we were often moving at about 50mph...... not ideal of good photography.

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I'm quite surprised to see there still seems to be a lot of B-57s parked. Thought this type was long gone.

Also surprised to see a few Tomcats, IIRC the Navy was thinking of destroying all the ones not in museums

Perhaps they're saving them as spare parts donors for Iran.....

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Perhaps they're saving them as spare parts donors for Iran.....

The reason for destroying them was actually to prevent any part from falling in Iranian hands, particularly after a couple of attempts to smuggle F-14 spare parts into Iran were discovered

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Likely WB-57 fleet support.

NASA operates three WB-57F's. NASA 927 (RB-57F 63-13295) was reactivated and turned over to NASA in 2013 after being in storage at D-M for 41 years. I guess that demonstrates how effective the preservation process is, aided of course by the very low humidity and minimal rainfall that Tucson gets.

Edited by VMA131Marine
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