The Boneyard: world's 'biggest' plane cemetery up close

[blondebier]

I've just seen this on the BBC :

BBC News - The Boneyard: world's 'biggest' plane cemetery up close

"Spread across the huge 2,600 acre site, equivalent in size to 1,430 football pitches, is a collection of over 4,000 retired aircraft including nearly every plane the US armed forces have flown since World War II."

I'd like to have a walk around that.

 

[Gridlock]

It sort of half mentions it, but the reason the place exists in the first place is SALT - the planes have to be kept outside and airframe-intact for verification purposes (ie, visible to USSR satellites). Otherwise they'd be razor blades and tin foil by now.

Would be nice if the BBC would provide a link to the place on Google Maps...

I always thought it was in the middle of nowhere but actually it's essentially a suburb of Tucson:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...849304&spn=0.203112,0.445976&t=h&z=12&iwloc=A

 

[Roger Jones]

"Would be nice if the BBC would provide a link to the place on Google Maps"

Put "boneyard tucson" into Google maps.

 

[Dryce]

It sort of half mentions it, but the reason the place exists in the first place is SALT

Its existence predates SALT.

It exists first and foremost as a low cost place to store aircraft.

 

[Gridlock]

Predates SALT, sure, but the geometric layout (early computerised image recognition) and requirement for long-term display are both SALT terms, just like nuclear facility inspections etc.

 

[blondebier]

Has anyone been to Tucson? Are civilians allowed to visit the place?

 

[Dryce]

Predates SALT, sure, but the geometric layout (early computerised image recognition) and requirement for long-term display are both SALT terms, just like nuclear facility inspections etc.

I think you'll find pre-arms treaty storage of aircraft in neat geometric configs.

With the B52s they are so large that you'd store them that way anyway.

What changed was in in the 90s was that the US started chopping them to big pieces in such a way that it could be seen by satellite. Many of the aircraft would have already been there prior to any agreement - being stored for reactivation or for spares cannibalisation.

But the actual purpose of the boneyard is to allow aircraft to be stored (low humidity and lots of space) - they have to be properly sealed and prepared.

So the treaty stuff is just a secondary or even tertiary aspect of the operation and *recent* history of the storage facility.

 

[renault12ts]

"Would be nice if the BBC would provide a link to the place on Google Maps"

Put "boneyard tucson" into Google maps.

Yep that gets it. Wow!!

 

[Lugy]

Cool, when I win the Euromillions, I'm going to give them a bell and buy a B52 as a Garden Ornament

 

[Dryce]

Yep that gets it. Wow!!

Quite a bit of intersting history there.

To my eye the F16s just seem too new to be there.

And there different types of the the Martin RB57 in various places so a bit of Canberra legacy too.

 

[renault12ts]

^ Lost me I'm afraid.

 

[blondebier]

Quite a bit of intersting history there.

To my eye the F16s just seem too new to be there.

And there different types of the the Martin RB57 in various places so a bit of Canberra legacy too.

Dryce, you seem to know quite a bit about it.

Are they still retiring aircraft there then? I got the impression it was just for storing old birds.

 

[Dryce]

^ Lost me I'm afraid.

UK post war jet bomber - Canberra. Still operating as a high altitude photo reconnaissance variant until recently (2006 ?) with the RAF.

US basically licensed the design and created the B57 which then got tweaked with a bigger (an then a bigger wing) for high altitude work. There's at least three variants in the boneyard.

 

[Gridlock]

No F-117As though - too dangerous

 

[Dryce]

Are they still retiring aircraft there then? I got the impression it was just for storing old birds.

It's a place for storing stuff you don't want to use. So it might be obsolete, or it might be for reserve use, or you maybe have a surplus.

Stuff gets stored, reactivated, sold, cannibalised for spares, and scrapped.

The Mojave desert in California has a famous park for out of service airliners. Similar idea but civilian.

 

[blondebier]

It's a place for storing stuff you don't want to use. So it might be obsolete, or it might be for reserve use, or you maybe have a surplus.

Stuff gets stored, reactivated, sold, cannibalised for spares, and scrapped.

The Mojave desert in California has a famous park for out of service airliners. Similar idea but civilian.

Thanks. I've never been to the US, so it might be worth putting one of these on the destination list.

It looks fascinating.

 

[Dryce]

Thanks. I've never been to the US, so it might be worth putting one of these on the destination list.

Field Guide To Aircraft Boneyards

It looks fascinating.

There is supposed be a tour you can go on at the Tucson site - even though it's military.

 

[blondebier]

http://www.johnweeks.com/boneyard/There is supposed be a tour you can go on at the Tucson site - even though it's military.

Thanks, that's brilliant.

 

[Dryce]

Thanks, that's brilliant.

This looks like the lot that do the tour: Home

 

[camerafodder]

Not quite the boneyard but this is my pal's back garden. He lives just over the fell from us.