An aerial view of the world's largest aircraft boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona [OC]

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Muse_and_her_Artist@reddit

was this a private / hired flight or are you in the military?

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It always feels like such a waste to see all these beautiful airframes rotting away. You’d think that something better can be found to do with them. Give them a second life or dismantle them for parts

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Individual-Spell-671@reddit

They do provide a lot of parts for planes still in service for our military and some foreign customers.

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Red_Brox@reddit

That’s exactly what they’re there for. Lots of those planes are scavenged for parts for their airworthy sisters. Notice how the E-8s (RIP) have their JT3D/TF33s pulled off already.

On a side not, it’s crazy seeing planes you’ve been on sitting at the boneyard.

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_BMS@reddit

On a side not, it’s crazy seeing planes you’ve been on sitting at the boneyard.

I assume it's the same feeling Army/Marines get when they see FOBs and bases they were deployed to shut down or handed over.

Or Sailors when they hear news of their old ships getting scrapped or ending up in a SINKEX.

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killertrout1@reddit

Yeah I've probably dropped a deuce in at least one of those E-8s

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Bobbytrap9@reddit

That’s good to hear!

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Azacian@reddit

There is a seriously good documentary about the parts recovery process including inspections and also how they mothball them. Think it was in one of the more serious youtube channels who visited. Recomended

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TheTallGuy0@reddit

They are far from rotting. This is the ideal spot for them. Low rain, low moisture. They’re preserved pretty well

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aqaba_is_over_there@reddit

Some get reactivated or sold to other militaries.

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airwest7@reddit

They are dismantled for parts...but more on an "as needed" basis.

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Sky_guy_17@reddit

I wonder what they’ll do with all those KC-10 Extenders now, given the type has been fully retired now.

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Individual-Spell-671@reddit

Might still be some cargo haulers that can use the parts.

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84Cressida@reddit

They need to be put back into service. They never should’ve been retired.

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Jazzlike_Climate4189@reddit

Impossible right now due to the pylon issues that caused the UPS crash.

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Wtopp3@reddit

Back in the middle 90s you could drive around in there and check out the planes. No sure if I was supposed to or not, but me and my dog used to have a great time checking out all the planes! Great memory!

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devildog2067@reddit

As recently as 2019 you could arrange a public tour…

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twoweeksbehind@reddit

Last I heard they stopped all public tours after Covid.

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Rampaging_Bunny@reddit

They stopped in Covid. The base commander at the time made the call, and the order was made up the chain to keep it in place in perpetuity.

You can drive around perimeter and there’s pullout areas you can get close to the fence and see thru, probably where the teens go to smoke. But can still see a lot of tails.

The Pima air and space museum down the road is still open and thriving, highly highly recommend to all.

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Scot_Spotter@reddit (OP)

Pima is amazing. Went there a few days ago, but it looks even better from the air

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bschmidt25@reddit

Is the Sofia 747 out on display now?

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cheese--eater@reddit

Visited Pima in March 2025 and Sofia was on display!

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Rampaging_Bunny@reddit

Wow, what a great aerial photo thanks!!! I zoomed in on all my favorites. I forgot they had the ANA 787 dreamliner, that was cool to go and look up into the landing gear bay., and the big Rolls royce Trent 1000 engines.

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bozoconnors@reddit

Heh! Random Beechcraft Starship upper right-ish.

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horse-boy1@reddit

Huge plane. I think it was the prototype?

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parkertyler@reddit

It is the first one

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silvernotgrey@reddit

That's actually the second one. The first one is N787BA and is painted the Boeing blue livery. Last I saw, it was in Nagoya at a theme park at the airport.

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GayRacoon69@reddit

Teens don't smoke anymore. They vape

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chillinwithmoes@reddit

Been to the Pima Air & Space Museum a few times, most recently a month ago for the first time since I was a kid. Such an incredibly cool place.

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xxrdawgxx@reddit

I have many great memories of going to see my grandparents in Green Valley, spending far too long at the Pima County Air and Space Museum, and seeing the boneyards every time we went into the city

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Ziegler517@reddit

Parts depot.

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aqaba_is_over_there@reddit

Depends.

Some are kept (mostly) intact for potential reuse or foreign sale.

Some are kept for parts.

The eventual fat for any of them if not sold will be the scrapyard.

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XxMasterbigmanxX@reddit

A lot of them are actually there due to disarmament treaties like SALT.

These treaties limited the amounts of strategic bombers that were allowed. To prove to the Soviets that we actually destroyed the required number of bombers, they did irreparable damage (see the cut off tail on the B52) and were laid out in the open so Soviet satellites could see them and verify.

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skippythemoonrock@reddit

Every so often an AN-124 will fly into TUS to pick up F-16 spares.

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BigWhiteDog@reddit

Sort of. Some are in "mothballs" for future needs.

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dynesor@reddit

How many of these planes could be ‘reactivated’ and put back into service in an emergency like a major world war? And would we even have the pilots to fly them if they were brought back into service?

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skippythemoonrock@reddit

Every so often an AN-124 will fly into TUS to pick up F-16 spares.

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AtomicGrosbeek@reddit

Amazing! They’re so precisely laid out. Every time I see pictures like these, of countless planes ready to be scrapped, I think of one of the last scenes in The Best Years of Our Lives - the one where Dana Andrews’ character gets into one of the bombers (a B-17?).

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pornborn@reddit

There are so many planes there That there is a high likelihood I’ve been in some after attending over 20 air shows in the 80’s and 90’s. I even had an uncle who was in the Air Guard and worked on F-4 phantoms until his retirement in the 70’s.

However there is one unique aircraft at the boneyard that I had the luck and privilege to walk through and even sit in the pilot’s seat. A few years ago, I tracked it down to its current resting place.

The Convair XC-99. It was developed from the B-36 Peacemaker. Its initial retirement was to put it on display by Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio. My dad had been in the Air Force and went through pilot training there in the early 50’s. Then in the 70’s he took our family on vacation and we went through San Antonio because he wanted to visit his former CO who still lived there. While there he took us by the base and that’s when we found the XC-99. I was just a kid and couldn’t appreciate the magnitude of the opportunity.

Unfortunately, the plane was made with metal that had a high magnesium content which led to deterioration. It was disassembled and put into storage but wasn’t protected well enough and eventually got shipped off to the boneyard, where it sits today.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BigiqHxGs1gTGV9C9?g_st=ic

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bozoconnors@reddit

Neat. As long as I've been into aircraft, I'd either completely forgotten or never even known of that behemoth. Kudos for the reminder.

Heh... I was like... man, that thing must get horrible gas mileage!

Range: 8,100 mi with 19,112 US gal

I mean, not so bad! B-52s for example @ ~14 gallons per mile lol. (8800 mi / 47,000 gallons)

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pornborn@reddit

Hah! I’ve never thought about fuel consumption of most aircraft outside of fighter aircraft engines (in afterburner), General Aviation, or hot rodding. That is quite the eye opener.

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Niftarian@reddit

Any chance of these B-52's seeing action again or is it just a bone yard?

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Scot_Spotter@reddit (OP)

Most of the B-52s were broken up in a specific way to signify to Soviet/Russian satellites that the aircraft were decommissioned and couldn't deliver nuclear weapons as part of a treaty years ago, however they are still harvested for parts to support the current B-52 fleet, so they won't fly. IIRC, the 309th AMARG has the ability to reactivate a few aircraft, so there may be the possibility that some could mabye fly again

*

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Drone314@reddit

Watching the concrete guillotine chop off their tails was depressing sight.

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bozoconnors@reddit

Ugh. I'll bet. Same feeling re: some recently rapidly deconstructed Iranian F-14s. No word on if they were even flight worthy, & boo Iran and whatever, but man. Shame.

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MissNashPredators11@reddit

Like seeing a cattle get butchered. Except you don’t get good steak out of it and it doesn’t feed people. You just get sadness

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rocbolt@reddit

The ones that are guillotined were destroyed for treaty purposes, the others are potential spares. They flew one out a few years ago after a fire destroyed an active B-52 in Guam

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RespectTheTree@reddit

What if I want the one in the middle?

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Confident_Delivery85@reddit

Do they really do tours there??

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McCheesing@reddit

RIP big sexy

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AlwayHappyResearcher@reddit

Can you actually buy these? No military ones of course

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USCAV19D@reddit

Always blows my mind just how many C-5s there actually are.

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A_named_person2@reddit

there are more C-5s in that picture that there are planes in my country's air force

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Azurehue22@reddit

BEEG Women

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zoomie35@reddit

Only 51 were upgraded to C-5M’s. The other A and B models could be converted to M’s.

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Jazzlike_Climate4189@reddit

Let’s start a subreddit fundraiser to buy one and make it airworthy. Should only cost like 10 million if the engines are still good.

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idostufandthingz@reddit

There are 1.4 million users here, I’m not a math wiz but we can get it done

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Skyror_tHe_Lit@reddit

would only need everyone to donate 10$, sounds like a good deal no?

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montigoo@reddit

What should really blow your mind is If they were colleges or hospitals they would still be in use

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aviation-ModTeam@reddit

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USCAV19D@reddit

And if all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a place it would be.

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TigerIll6480@reddit

If wishes were fishes we’d all eat sushi.

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Neither_Cap6958@reddit

Wait until you find out there's abandoned colleges and hospitals in the US.

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horse-boy1@reddit

I went on a tour there years ago. They had a Nighthawk F-117 stealth fighter on display. 🙃

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koinai3301@reddit

Serbia would like to differ!

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mereel@reddit

Seems like they stopped giving tours to the general public around 2022. ☹️

The near by air and space museum has a good collection though! Don't think they have an F-117 like that though.

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horse-boy1@reddit

Pima Air Museum was where you got tickets for the tour, sad they stopped. Pima has a large collection.

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cchurchcp@reddit

They're still doing it, or the started again. My friend went there last year.

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LilMsPopKornMan234@reddit

Not the Boneyard, those were permanently closed for security reasons

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cchurchcp@reddit

Ah right, I misread your comment. He just went to Pima.

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Koolguymanddude@reddit

The F117 is in the back. Still being restored

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mereel@reddit

You expect me to believe that's a stealth aircraft? It's clearly visible, not at all stealthy. /s

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skippythemoonrock@reddit

Well yeah, they took all the paint off.

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Jazzlike_Climate4189@reddit

*Nearby, one word 😉

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BloodRush12345@reddit

They should have a real one there now. I don't know if it's on display yet but I know they got one.

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aqaba_is_over_there@reddit

The actual retired nighthawks are kept in their original hangers.

A few still fly as test beds and aggressor aircraft in training and there is at least one known operation flown since their retirement.

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LilMsPopKornMan234@reddit

one of them is literally across the street at Pima in the back awaiting restoration lol

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Neither_Cap6958@reddit

What known op?

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piehore@reddit

“One” I know dude who works at edwards, it’s common to see them flying now, for a retired aircraft

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Koolguymanddude@reddit

Quite a couple are in museums as well

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Scot_Spotter@reddit (OP)

Still there 😂

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OfficeZestyclose9952@reddit

Imagine forgetting where you placed it.

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Dvwtf@reddit

Where you placed what?

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stewieatb@reddit

There's a similar B2 Spirit on loan to RAF Luton.

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PC-12@reddit

It was photographed by a Canberra.

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Ribss@reddit

Hahaha that’s too good

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AngryPhillySportsFan@reddit

What a beautiful airplane.

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Beautiful-Routine295@reddit

I’ll drive there tomorrow if I can go in side

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Macncheezpuffin@reddit

Can one explain to me as to why so many planes retired? Some of them seem to be relatively new-ish and could be still used or am I wrong? I'm brand new to this sub.

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Blastercorps@reddit

I think the youngest planes in those pictures are 40 years old. The old F/A-18 hornets and the KC-10 refuelers are from the 80s. Everything else is even older. Everything has a usable lifetime, these reached theirs.

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Usual-Wasabi-6846@reddit

They are all quite old, a lot of the newer looking stuff is from the 90's. They can be reactivated but the air force wants newer platforms anyway.

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PotterOneHalf@reddit

This is so pretty but feels weird because no other country does something like this.

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Usual-Wasabi-6846@reddit

Most countries don't have the scale to really do this, there is a counterpart to this for civilian aircraft from all over nearby.

Russia also has a ton of mothballed stuff albeit I don't think they store them in as nice of a climate.

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TigerIll6480@reddit

What are the planes in picture 11? They have kind of a Convair look.

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Scot_Spotter@reddit (OP)

Boeing T-43s and CT-43As, based on the 737-200; the second from the bottom is a T-43. The T-43s were used to train navigators, and a few were converted to CT-43As for transport

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TigerIll6480@reddit

Thanks!

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mnm39@reddit

I used to drive past here regularly on the way to/from work! It was so cool at sunset.

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No_Target_424@reddit

nice, I was in the area during Christmas and went to the pima air museum.

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The_Stereoskopian@reddit

Look at all those taxes

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an_older_meme@reddit

You can drive right through the Boneyard on Kolb Road. Most of the road is below grade but you can see a lot before it dips. Hopping the fence to sit in the airplanes is discouraged.

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Ok-Bar601@reddit

What a waste of money.

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an_older_meme@reddit

Reduce, reuse, recycle.

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an_older_meme@reddit

The buffs with the chopped-off tails were part of a treaty with the USSR back in the day. The pieces had to be placed a specific distance apart for satellite compliance inspection.

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