Boneyard

[Flyby PC 23]

Wow.......

 

Davis–Monthan Air Force Base. - Check it out on Google Earth.

 

(It's not spying, they're junk).

[+Dave 2,322]

Junk! I think not, each one of those has a story to tell, they lived and fought many battles. Its sad. If they could talk.

[DWCAce 19]

Damn shame all (ok, I think one or two are still slated for preservation) are ground up...ugh...

 

Sorry, thanks for posting though

[Dej 17]

Had a double-take on the above, I'd swear that was a Rebel B-Wing at the bottom left, few centimetres in from the left edge!

[Olham 164]

There are actually two such aircraft cemetaries, I think both in New Mexico. The other one is even larger.

But I forgot the name. Check this touching picture - the T-33 in the foreground seems still intact.

 

http://en.wikipedia....ST-89-10583.jpg

 

Or see these "Phantoms" and "Hueys":

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tucson05_AMARCHelicoptersFightersMountain.jpg

Edited July 12, 2010 by Olham

[Bullethead 12]

PIma, AZ has a huge boneyard. It might well be the one pictured above, I don't know. But anyway, there's a museum there where they've preserved quite a few interesting planes from the boneyard. Also, you can take a bus tour out through the acres and acres of old planes. Well worth the trip.

 

I saw a couple old friends in the Pima museum. One as a C-141 that I poured a lot of effort into. This plane had been involved in an horrific accident in the early 90s. 2 F-16s collided right over the ramp their wreckage landed on a C-141 which, unfortunately, was full of paratroopers doing some practice drill. Killed a bunch of them. "My" C-141 was next in line to this and a river of burning fuel went under it. Somebody towed it out of the fire, but not before the whole bottom of the rear fuselage and part of the lower sides had burned/melted away. The USAF decided to keep it flying so ran some steel I-beams across the hole and bolted them to the longerons, then flew the thing (on a 1-time clearance) to

Waco, Texas, where I worked. We rebuilt the fuselage, leaving a very noticeable collection of doublers back there, which is how I recognized the plane. Took us a couple of months and we charged a lot for it. And from what I could tell at he museum, the plane was only in service about 6 months after that.

 

The other thing I recognized was a B-36. This used to be at the gate of Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas, but disappeared when they turned that place into a joint reserve base. When I went to Pima several years ago, the pieces of the B-36 were stacked up awaiting assembly and repair. Apparently it had orginally be bought by some other museum, but they couldn't get the funds to fix it up, so it sat in a warehouse for about a decade before Pima acquired it. Now I see on Google Earth that they've put it back together and it's now the centerpiece of their display.

 

 

[rabu 9]

The US Navy has "Pacific Reserve Fleets," mothballed ships, going back to WWII which can suposidly be up and ready to use in only a few days (I would have to see it to believe it). Anyway, plaes like Bremmerton, Washington, Treasure Island, California, San Diego, and other places have huge battleships, crusers, destroyers, all sitting, waiting for the next war.

[Duce Lewis 3]

The US Navy has "Pacific Reserve Fleets," mothballed ships, going back to WWII which can suposidly be up and ready to use in only a few days (I would have to see it to believe it). Anyway, plaes like Bremmerton, Washington, Treasure Island, California, San Diego, and other places have huge battleships, crusers, destroyers, all sitting, waiting for the next war.

One of the saddest and most outrageous stories I've ever heard was the USS Enterprise

She fought in more battles than any warship in history, from the beginning to the end of the Pacific War

At times she was the only flattop we had in the Pacific as all her sister ships were sunk

But the Navy didn't stop and she fought on til the Essex Class Carriers came out to join her

But at the end of the war her decks were deemed too short and weak for the pending jet aircraft

...and the morons sold her for scrap!

 

Admir Bill Halsey led a campaign to save her as a museaum but ubelievbly he couldn't get interest or funds

The Battle 360 series ended with one of her former crew describing how he watched her put to the torch and dismantled

[GHunter 0]

When I was a teen in the Seattle area. I saw a scrap yard along the waterfront with a large bright yellow "tube" on a pile of scrap metal. Went back with a friend later. We climbed over the fence by the freeway and got closer. It was Sea Lab 3 the final undersea habitation project the Navy had been doing in the late 60's early 70's. Before we got run off the property for trespassing, we were told even though it was something of scientific and historical significance, it had been sold for scrap and since it was made of titanium, it was going to be made into razor blades. Being a big Sea Hunt fan and loving anything SCUBA or under water, I was appalled such a piece of history didn't go to a maritime museum.

[Bullethead 12]

The US Navy has "Pacific Reserve Fleets," mothballed ships, going back to WWII which can suposidly be up and ready to use in only a few days (I would have to see it to believe it).

 

I seriously doubt any WW2 ship (and there aren't many left) in Puget Sound's collection can be ready in a few days, but in Baton Rouge, LA, there's USS Kidd (DD-661), a Fletcher-class destroyer from WW2. She came from Puget Sound in 1984 and, as a destroyerman myself and son of a WW2 destroyerman, I spent my weekends that summer helping restore her to fighting trim. That took months, but today she is regarded as the most historically accurate WW2 ship in the US. She's still owned by the USN and technically is still on the roll of ready reserve ships. And she really IS ready. The enignes, weapons, and electronics all work. All the USN has to do is man her and cast off, provided the Mississippi River is high enough. Of course, she's only equipped to fight WW2 again, but in a post-nuclear world that might count for something. Her main guns fire blank rounds on various war-related holidays.

 

Kidd is moored in a unique way. Between her and the levee are big vertical pilings, to which she's shackled. Thus, she's free to rise and fall with the River and you only need cut the shackles to set her free. Underneath her are a bunch of blocks upon which she sits at low water, high and dry, like a model ship on a stand. While immobile at such times, at least she gets her belly cleaned. Otherwise, you can walk beneath her and admire her fine lines.

 

Here's the ship's site: http://www.usskidd.com/

 

When I was a teen in the Seattle area. I saw a scrap yard along the waterfront with a large bright yellow "tube" on a pile of scrap metal. Went back with a friend later. We climbed over the fence by the freeway and got closer. It was Sea Lab 3 the final undersea habitation project the Navy had been doing in the late 60's early 70's. Before we got run off the property for trespassing, we were told even though it was something of scientific and historical significance, it had been sold for scrap and since it was made of titanium, it was going to be made into razor blades. Being a big Sea Hunt fan and loving anything SCUBA or under water, I was appalled such a piece of history didn't go to a maritime museum.

 

But I prefer "Sealab 2021"

[Flyby PC 23]

The US Navy has "Pacific Reserve Fleets," mothballed ships, going back to WWII which can suposidly be up and ready to use in only a few days (I would have to see it to believe it). Anyway, plaes like Bremmerton, Washington, Treasure Island, California, San Diego, and other places have huge battleships, crusers, destroyers, all sitting, waiting for the next war.

 

There's 'used' and 'used'.

 

Used to fight, and used for leverage.

 

I point you in the direction of Roosevelt's attitude towards Churchill in the early years of WW2 when Britain was crying out for escort ships, and the 99 year leases on bases. Nice to know who your friends are in times of need....

 

No offence meant by the word junk, I only meant to imply they weren't operational aircraft which the USAF might not want you looking at.