Tucson - Part D
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base - Bone Yard Tour

Voyager RV Resort, Tucson, AZ, Altitude: 2,821 ft.
September 2-11
2007 Fall Trip - 37 days and 3,177 miles into trip

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The "Bone Yard" is like an auto junk yard. It is where surplus planes are sent when there is no further need seen to keep them in ready condition. They are then slowly stripped as parts are need by the our military or other countries.

One other function in the bone yard is to meet peace agreements.
We have a treaty with Russia to destroy part of our nuclear delivery capability every year. Bombers and missiles are chopped up and left scattered to be monitored by satellite for compliance with the treaty. Periodically, a Russian delegation will tour the area to verify that the chopped up planes were fully equipped with engines and electronics. They also compare their satellite pictures with what is on the ground.

B52's being chopped up to meet peace agreements.

B1 Bombers being strpped for parts to keep other B1s flying.

Need any airplane parts?

A whole row of Douglas A4D Skyhawks being strpped for parts.

A3D Sky Warrior and a F14 Tomcat with parts removed.
The A3D has NH on it's tail. That was the Carrier Air Group I was in aboard the USS Hancock. We had 3 of those heavy attack A3D's aboard, that might have been one of them!

"NJ" was the designation for the Carrier Air Group which I was attached to while at NAS Miramar. This plane is an F8U-2 Crusader II which probably replaced the F11F Tigers in our sister squadron. It came out after I left the Navy and was the last Navy day fighter. (It did not have radar to detect and track targets and used 20 mm cannons as it's main weapon.) Boy am I getting old!

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