Thurday, January 17, 2008 The Boneyard

Wednesday afternoon we called and made reservations for the 'Boneyard' tour. The only way to visit the boneyard is through the Pima Air Museum.

Our tour started at 10 a.m. We arrived early as requested to have our I.D.s checked. The bus loaded promptly at 9:55 and off we went to see the airplanes that are out of service.

The oldest plane in the boneyard is from 1958. All previous planes have been disassembled in one way or another. Many of them were sold for scrap metal after radios and other equipment were removed.

Most of the tour was spent driving at a snail's pace down celebrity row as our guide told us about each airplane. He was extremely knowledgeable. There are approximately 4400 aircraft in the boneyard.

This plane was a general's plane in Hawaii. So many government officials borrowed it when they visited the islands that the general had it painted 'United States of America' instead of 'United States Air Force.'

Celebrity row is a street with aircraft on either side. There is a sign in front of each naming the aircraft for visitors.

Each plane has been specially prepared to sit in the desert sun. The cockpits are coated with 2 layers of a black paint and then a final coat of white. The paints protect the interiors from ultra violet rays and heat. The paint keeps the temperature inside the plane to within 15 degrees of the outside temperature--this is quite a feat in the heat of the summer. Only the portion of the plane with items that may be reused are painted. When the techs need something from a plane, it is like peeling wallpaper to remove the paints--some comes off in big sections and the rest has to be picked and scraped.

Planes that have a lot of electronic systems have more of the white paint than the others. Even the top of the fuselage was painted on the F16s.

Here are some of the pictures Bob took as we drove through the boneyard. These F4s are slated to become drones.

Bob took these pictures for Cecil. The hueys and cobras also had a lot of protection.

Below are C5s. I remember seeing them fly over our housing area when we lived at Biggs Army Airfield (El Paso, Texas) and thinking that they were too large to be flying!

The B1 Bomber is also being used for spare parts.We enjoyed our trip through the boneyard. It was interesting to learn that for every dollar spent in the boneyard, ten dollars are saved.