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See the world’s biggest plane graveyard, ‘The Boneyard’

By | February 24, 2010, 8:48 AM PST

For the first time, you can see the world’s biggest graveyard for military aircraft, which takes up 2,600 acres of land in Tucson, Arizona.

Called “The Boneyard” — officially, the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group facility — the site is a collection of more than 4,200 retired aircraft, including almost every plane the U.S. armed forces has flown since World War II.

Now, for the first time, high-resolution satellite images of the site have been published on Google Earth, showing what amounts to a collector’s dream: B-52 Cold War-era bombers retired in the 1990s, dozens of F-14 fighter planesm the kind featured in the movie Top Gun, and so on.

It’s such a stunning image that the facility itself was featured in the movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

The facility was first created shortly after World War II and is located on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tuscon. Why Arizona? With high altitude and dry conditions, aircraft can be parked outdoors without deteriorating quickly.

The AMARG facility also renovates aircraft for return to service.

Want to see the entire boneyard? Here’s the full-size image of the facility.

[via BBC]

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Andrew Nusca

About Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca is the editor of SmartPlanet.

Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca

Editor

Andrew Nusca is editor of SmartPlanet and an associate editor for ZDNet. Previously, he worked at Money, Men's Vogue and Popular Mechanics magazines. He holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and New York University. He based in New York but resides in Philadelphia.

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Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca
Andrew Nusca does not hold any investments in the companies he covers.
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RE: See the world's biggest plane graveyard, 'The Boneyard'
I've seen one TV program featuring a decommissioned aircraft fuselage repurposed to a house. Zoning nazis won't like it, but it's a good idea for low-cost housing in rural areas.
Posted by littlepitcher
25th Feb 2010
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Not sure it is really low cost
I'd love to have an airplane as a home, but I don't know that it is really low cost. The scrap value of metal in a large narrow body aircraft (about the smallest plane one would be comfortable living in) is $100k, putting a minimum on the acquisition cost. Moving the airframe to the site isn't inexpensive, and then you have the prepping to secure the plane to the landscape and outfit it with utilities, kitchen and bathroom.
Posted by colinnwn
25th Feb 2010
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