What about all the aircraft in the desert?

[Leavitt]

If you had the chance what would you do with all of them, or think should be done with them, maybe bombers?

I don't know enough to guess just makes me sick to see them all sit out there, isn't there something better they could be doing? I know all say that an airframe thats being flown will last much longer, but I guess at the cost to run them you would need huge pile of cash.

But all the less, I think it would be interesting, could you turn them into fire fighters, or bombers, fuelers, just humanatarian aid?

 

[ClimbnSink]

If they were useful they wouldn't be sitting in the desert. Best place for them, they could have been turned to scrap or stuck on poles in front of airports to rot away.

 

[shywon]

According to the 309th AMARG fact sheet:

Immediately after World War II, the Army's San Antonio Air Technical Service Command established a storage facility for B-29 and C-47 aircraft at Davis-Monthan AFB. Today, this facility is the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309 AMARG), which has grown to include more than 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles from the Air Force, Navy-Marine Corps, Army, Coast Guard, and several federal agencies including NASA. With an original purchase price of more than $35 billion, this aerospace fleet provides a unique savings account from which military units throughout the world may withdraw parts and aircraft. The government earns additional income by selling aircraft to our allies.

The chief reasons for selecting Davis-Monthan as the site for this storage center were Tucson's meager rainfall, low humidity, and alkaline soil. These conditions make it possible to store aircraft indefinitely with a minimum of deterioration and corrosion. In addition, the soil (called caliche) is hard, making it possible to park aircraft in the desert without constructing concrete or steel parking ramps.

See more on the group at:
http://www.dm.af.mil/units/amarc.asp

They are not going to waste.

 

[Steve]

Are we talking military or

Commercial?

 

[colomtnflyer]

I flew into Mojave a few years ago to visit the BEDE guys, and was amazed at how many civilian (commercial) aircraft were stored there. Though most were obviously used, there were quite a few brand new aircraft there as well! You could tell they had come directly from the manufacturing plant to storage, never having even been painted!

So it does seem there are some viable aircraft which could be enlisted for some positive use, and when combined with the other thread regarding creating USAF refueling tankers out of previously stored aircraft, recycling of this nature really makes sense!