Why Thousands of Aircraft are Abandoned in the Arizona Desert

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It is without a doubt that the United States of America, in this current day and age, has the largest, most advanced and most powerful military on the planet. But given that the US is constantly developing new aircraft to full specific roles, making older aircraft obsolete, what happens to these old planes? Once a particular type of plane is no longer needed as a newer and more advanced model has come to take its place, where do the old ones go? Across the country, there are locations known as airplane graveyards where these aircraft go to be either scrapped, sold, maintained or just kept dormant. However, the most famous and the largest of these complexes is the Airplane Graveyard at the Davis-Monthan Base in Tucson, Arizona, which is commonly known as the Boneyard. At this location, there are thousands of planes stationed here, with many of them at their final resting place. The Tucson Boneyard is also a massive tourist attraction and even a pop culture icon, featuring in several popular movies such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Can't Buy Me Love, both of which were filmed on location. But how did the Tucson Boneyard become so crucial to American aircraft disposal and what types of planes have been stored here in the past or there currently?

Video
0:00 Where Do Old Airplanes Go to die?
1:34 How the Tucson Graveyard Grew to the Size it is Today
7:29 What Happens to Planes When They Arrive at the Tucson Boneyard?
10:41 The B-29 Superfortress – The Bomber that Ended WWII
12:53 The B-36 Peacemaker – The First Bomber of the Nuclear Age
14:02 B-52 – The Most Iconic Bomber in American Military History
14:58 F-4 Phantom – One of the Longest Serving Fighter Planes
16:41 The F-14 Tomcat – Top Gun’s Most Famous Fighter Plane
19:03 The Tucson Boneyard, a Marvel of Aviation History

» CONTACT

» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Brandon Evans,
Editor - Patrycja Klimczuk
Host - Ryan Socash

» SOURCES

» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[garyodle]

These airplanes are not "abandoned" in the Arizona desert. They are PARKED in the Arizona desert; there's a difference. They are well cared for. Some are regenerated and sent back into service. Some are stripped of parts to be used back in the fleet. Some are sold as scrap, but all of them are cared for, monitored, and used for a purpose.

[navret]

I spent most all of my 21 years in the Navy in or around P-3’s. I logged over 4000 special crew hours. Seeing all those P-3’s in the boneyard brings a tear to my eyes and makes me realize just how old I am (77). I would love to go out to Tucson to see them again.

[Glen.Danielsen]

I love this long-standing practice of having massive aircraft graveyards, boneyards, “places where they go.” They are sightly, interesting, parts repositories, museums!! Thank you for this fascinating video. 💛🙏🏽

[porchefamilyfarm]

This was a very informative report.
Thank you for sharing this. It was great to see the S-3 Vikings in storage. I served on board them in the late 80's- early 90's.

[williamedmonds]

My 1967 Cessna O-2A Skymaster was stored there at the Pima boneyard for many years before being purchased, stored in a hangar and forgotten about for over 20 years before I got my hands on her and started her restoration.
It was very cool to see one of my old Tomcats from my squadron VF-154 at 17:45. I was one of those young recruits that was inspired by TopGun and loved seeing her virtually taking flight again in TopGun Maverick.

[Britspence]

I've always been aware of the Boneyard but didn't know much about it. Thanks for this very informative and well-produced video.👌

[donnaryan]

This is very exciting to watch! When you showed the first aerial shot of the layout I shrieked with glee! Thank you for this wonderful video.

[lanceman]

I loved the footage of the F4 Phantom. My dad was a maintenance chief for the VF 114 Aardvarks during Vietnam, which was shown in one of the clips. Thanks for the video!

[DtotheAtotheN]

I live across the street from Davis-Monthan AFB. I drive by the boneyard everyday. It is an amazing sight to see-even after 20 years of doing this.

[billj]

The Tucson Arizona boneyard is very valuable. They are constantly taking parts off planes. Sometimes an entire plane will be remodeled.

[jimdavis]

I spent 11 years of my career maintaining the F-4 Phantom in its several iterations (C/D/E/RF & the Wild Weasel). Many of them were modified into the QF-4, which was used at Tyndall AFB, Fl. for targets.

[barryfletcher]

The aircraft at Davis-Monthan are NOT abandoned. They are being > stored < until there is no longer a need for them. For example, later versions of aircraft often use many of the same parts as earlier versions and the ones at Davis-Monthan can provide those parts.

[chrisherman]

Ryan...those 737s with the red stripes were the former Janet airliners used for transport of Area 51 workers in it's heyday

[crystalclearwindowcleaning]

Thank you this was very interesting. It's so sad to see so many wonderful airplanes just sitting out there in the desert.

[specops]

This was absolutely stellar. Thank you for making such a quality program.

[Audiogeek-kfez]

This is an excellent non military documentary that is the best I have seen (my father, former Korean era AF) took my her in the Early 70s. I wish I remembered more, but the size was overwhelming. What a great documentary

[sherirobinson]

This was not only informative and educational but, very entertaining!

[johnsherman]

Went there while in the Marine Corps air wing as we needed a part for the APU and they had many C-119s there being stored ! It was unbelievable to see what was there just in 1965 ! Would love to see the base one more time before I hit the “boneyard”!

[pata]

Right next to the Bone Yard is Pima Air Museum, it's the largest Private Air Craft Museum. They also store planes that have been sold or going to Museums but are awaiting transport . I have family in Tucson and the bone yard has always been on the to do list since the 70's.

[garychait]

My utmost respect and sincere appreciation to all Vets, in past service & current.