I wonder if they'd take my car part-ex for a Tomcat

Mark

If these are recent photos I have to wonder why they bother storing all this obsolete equipment. Keep a few examples by all means but the sheer amount of aircraft stored in these places never ceases to amaze me. Most are never likely to be used again. That B-47 would be much better off in a museum where people can go & see it. IMHO

The desert air seems to preserve them in a reasonable condition. Back in the early 60s a friend of mine went to Arizona to find 3 B-17s for the film "The War Lover". He told me they picked the 3 with most air still in the tyres, fitted extra tanks in the fuselage, checked the oil & flew them back to England. I don't remember what happened to them. At least one might still be airworthy.

Björn you'd be lucky to get part exchange on a Soviet-era hairdryer for my sister

sadly the military just sees them as pieces of metal. Its because of that there are so few flyable classics.

Hagar, they strip most of the parts that they could resell or reuse, and the planes in the graveyards are pretty much just exoskeletons.

Every once in a blue moon, though, they'll call one of these things back into service.  It's very, very rare, but it happens.

Think of the cash they'd make selling this stuff to simmers though!  Imagine the simpit you could make!!!

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Good one Bones. Wish I could come with you. Just be careful. I've been told that rattlers & other creatures often make their homes in the aircraft.

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This seems ridiculous to me. I suppose they leave them until they evenually rot & fall apart. The British government sells off its obsolete aircraft & they can go for ridiculously low prices. These are usually purchased for scrap but sometimes saved by museums or restoration projects. The Bruntingthorpe Vulcan is one example. Don't quote me but I think it was purchased for something like £250, including delivery to the airfield by RAF aircrew. Naturally all secret equipment was removed first. It will possibly fly again one day & bring pleasure to 1,000s of people. http://www.vulcan558club.com/

I believe that motoring journalist & broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson has an EE Lightning in his back garden & a Harrrier in the front.

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believe me or not Hagar, but it's what i read on an AMARC site...

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Yes
Actually there would be one way to make her attractive, but it involves putting her in a coffin and driving a stake through her heart (if you've got an electron microscope to find it!)

Mark

It's not all a total loss....In 1950 when the Korean War started, they dragged out heaps of B-29's (50 for a start) and then used parts from may of the others to keep things going.     Spare parts worth $300,000, half the initial purchase price of each aircraft, were being removed from each B-29.    This included bombsights, engines, fuel and oil tanks, propellors and instruments.   The stripped out carcasses were sold for scrap at $2,300 each.

According to the book "Boneyard Badges" over 1000 B-47s were sent there for disposal.

The main idea of the book was to record the "nose art" and insignias of many forgotten squadrons.

they should at least allow us to visit the places......that would be awesome walking round an aircraft graveyard for a day


as if they are leaving aircraft to rot away instead of transfering them to museums..the shame of it

does the navy still fly the f14?