{"id":21811,"date":"2019-11-10T17:37:45","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T17:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/10\/aircraft-boneyard-keeps-planes-for-parts-or-possible-reuse\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:37:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:37:46","slug":"aircraft-boneyard-keeps-planes-for-parts-or-possible-reuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/11\/10\/aircraft-boneyard-keeps-planes-for-parts-or-possible-reuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Davis-Monthan Air Force Base aircraft boneyard keeps planes for parts or possible reuse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The U.S. Air Force raises planes from the dead in this post-apocalyptic graveyard in order to train mechanics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

TUCSON, Ariz. \u2014 As boneyards go, this place is pretty lively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before many Tucsonans have even started their morning commute, a pair of aircraft mechanics are already crouched over the open cockpit of an F-18 fighter jet, disarming the ejector seat and removing the explosives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearby, a towing crew pulls a Navy P-3 anti-submarine aircraft over to the \u201cflush farm\u201d to be drained of its fuel. Then they hook up to a different F-18 and haul it to the \u201cwash rack\u201d for perhaps the last thorough cleaning it will ever get. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, about a mile away, a small army of specialty painters fans out to spray protective coating on row after row of mothballed C-130 transport planes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to a typical morning at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, Tucson\u2019s most famous parking lot with roughly $34 billion worth of military might. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people who work here generally refer to the place by its acronym, or \u201cA-marg\u201d as they call it. Most everyone else \u2014 here and around the globe \u2014 knows it as the airplane graveyard, or simply the boneyard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that nickname only tells part of the story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is the final destination for most of the warplanes that end up there, some do return to the sky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, AMARG restored a B-52 bomber to active duty<\/a> after more than a decade in storage. Now workers at the facility are preparing dozens of retired F-16 fighter jets to fly again, this time as full-sized, \u201cdrone\u201d aerial targets piloted by remote control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also help get surplus military machines ready for delivery to U.S. allies, like the six helicopters sent to Greece earlier this year and five more to be sold to Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny day that you come here, there\u2019s a really wide variety of things we could be working on,\u201d says Air Force Col. Jennifer Barnard, now in her third year as group commander. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"309th
In this May 21, 2015, photo, U.S. Marines play spades during a break at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group boneyard in Tucson, Ariz. (Matt York\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arguably the boneyard\u2019s most important mission is to serve as a giant, open-air parts warehouse for the U.S. military and others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the past fiscal year alone, AMARG \u201creclaimed\u201d 5,744 different parts from the aircraft in its collection, saving taxpayers an estimated $405.9 million in replacement costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as the only facility of its kind in the nation, the boneyard is often the only place to find the parts needed for certain types of older aircraft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barnard says simple, high-priority orders can be filled the same day, but larger, hard-to-reach parts can take weeks or months to harvest and deliver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done special cuts on aircraft, where we\u2019ll cut a piece of an airplane and send it to somebody who needs it,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the C-130s that services the science stations in Antarctica sports a tail section that once soaked up the sun in Tucson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of why we get looked at as an air power reservoir,\u201d Barnard says. \u201cOur guys take a lot of pride in preserving these aircraft and taking really good care of them. They know they might be needed again, whether it\u2019s a whole airplane or just its parts.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\t