![]() ![]() The surrounding mountains further contribute due to the limiting of heavy winds that often plague desert environments.Īdditionally, because Tucson is located in the Sonoran Desert, it’s easy to transport aircraft back and forth without needing to pave any areas due to the hardiness of the terrain. Tucson also offers a high altitude of around 2,550 feet reducing humidity and features a relatively flat terrain reducing the danger of runoff. ![]() The hard soil creates reduced risk of the resident aircraft that in many cases can be dozens of tons sinking into the ground during the monsoon season. Because of the minuscule risk of any natural disasters in the city, the aircraft in the boneyard are well preserved and could potentially be reused in the future for foreign sales, demilitarization, or rearmament in case of renewed conflict.Īnother important contributing factor in the decision to move aircraft into Tucson is the city’s hard alkaline soil, which contains sodium, calcium, and magnesium. The environment serves as an ideal setting for the dry storage for the preservation and maintenance of military equipment with little chance of airframes rusting and not in danger of suffering from sandstorms local to Arizona’s capital, Phoenix. Tucson offers low humidity levels of the 10%-20% range, a relatively high altitude of 2,550 feet above sea level, and an average of only 11 inches of rainfall annually. Tucson’s weather plays a large role in the preservation of the aircraft. (Photo Credit: Phil on Flickr shared per Creative Commons License) The facility has housed and serviced almost every single famous American aircraft ranging from the B-29 “Enola Gay” to the SR-71 Blackbird as the largest historic boneyard in the world, as well as remaining as the last operational American Boneyard However, the aircraft started being transported to the boneyard, whose official title is 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), as far back as 1946. The airfield was established in 1919, and the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was established six years later. This is near the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, which is located at 2720 S. The boneyard is located north of Valencia Road and south of Escalante Road, in between Wilmot Road and Kolb Road. Users interested in the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, not the boneyard, should click here. Located five miles southeast of downtown Tucson, the boneyard fills 2,600-acre of the 3,300- acre expanse of the field, and as of 2019 officially holds over 3,280 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles from the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy, Marine Corps, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Residing within the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona is the largest military aircraft boneyard in the world. ![]()
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