The President of the United States.......ummm no!
Jim inspecting the B-52's landing gear
A-10 Thunderbolt. One of my favorite planes
SR-71 Blackbird
My brother is a HUGE airplane fan. He actually knows how to fly. He flew a plane when he was in is teens. I asked him what was the one thing he wanted to do and he told me he wanted to visit the famous Airplane "Boneyard" outside of Tucson, Arizona.
The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is home of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. The base is the home of over 4,500 military aircraft. The aircraft are broken into three groups. Planes that are in storage for future use if the military needs them, planes used for spare parts, and retired planes that are used for scrap or museums. The site of that many planes is amazing.
We first went to the PIMA Air and Space Museum. They offer a tour of the boneyard and also have a museum with over 230 aircraft. It's the largest airplane museum not run by the government. Click below for more info
Next we got onto a bus and went onto the air base to see all the planes being stored for various future uses. If the United States ever needs the planes again, many can be put back into service within 3 months. Other planes are just stored for spare parts like a junk yard. A lot of the planes used by the US Military are no longer in production, so when a plan need a part or repairs they contact AMRAG. Our tour guide told us an interesting fact. For every $1 spent storing the planes $18 is made/saved by the government when the planes are used for parts or scrap. Can you believe the government is actually doing something to save money! Wow
