The worlds largest knackers yard for planes-The Boneyard- is now viewable online in fine detail thanks to Bing Maps.
Over 4400 planes from of all sorts of military past, going back decades, are put to grass at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in the Arizona Desert.
The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) takes care of the disused warplanes and fighter jets.
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The parked aircraft can now be seen online in great details using the Bird’ eye view in Bing Maps.
Some of the planes are used as spare parts for maintaining others. Some have nothing wrong with them except being out of service.
Others are maintained up to date in case of need, though they might be old. Numerous films have been made by Hollywood using the Base as backdrop. Recently the old-timer “Ghost Rider”, a B52 bomber from the 1950’s was fully restored and flew off the base after years of retirement.
Other B52’s that used to carry nuclear missiles during the height of the cold war have their wings taken off and put by their sides, to show the Russian satellites not to worry unnecessarily.
The desert atmosphere provides the perfect environment for the planes to be stored and maintained. Anything from huge cargo planes, to bombers, Hercules freighters, A10 Thunderbolts and the F-14 Tomcat fighters are having a rest in the cool desert.
The independent.co.uk reports :
AMARG arranges its aircraft over almost 2,600 acres (10.5 sq km) of desert in the city of Tucson, surrounded by houses and criss-crossed by roads.
Some of the planes have noses or wings missing, surrounded by removed parts being salvaged by workers to be sent out to air bases across the world as spares.
Others are wrapped up almost ready to go, being kept as close to working order as possible in case they are needed in a new mission.
When they arrive, they must be washed, their fuel tanks drained and cleaned, ammunition and ejector seats removed and ducts sealed before they are covered back up.
AMARG was established at Davis-Monthan to store planes in 1946 after the end of the Second World War, chosen for Tucson’s low humidity, infrequent rainfall, high altitude and hard alkaline soil.
See here… bing.com/maps … Search=Davis Monthan Air Force Base..(Use Bird’s eye view)
