Airport graveyard in Arizona

[G. Sylvester]

I will be going to Tucson in the next couple of days. IIRC
there is an airport graveyard/mothball site somewhere nearby
that you can visit? What are the names, locations (if you have
it) and are they worth visiting?

thanks in advance.

Gerald Sylvester

[Jay Beckman]

"G. Sylvester" > wrote in message
...
>I will be going to Tucson in the next couple of days. IIRC
> there is an airport graveyard/mothball site somewhere nearby
> that you can visit? What are the names, locations (if you have
> it) and are they worth visiting?
>
> thanks in advance.
>
> Gerald Sylvester
>
>

Gerald,

You are probably thinking of AMARC (Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration
Center) at Davis - Monthan AFB.

Tours of AMARC are now administrated by the Pima Air Museum (an under-rated
gem in it's own right...)

AMARC Tours:
http://www.pimaair.org/amarc.htm

Pima Air & Space Museum:
http://www.pimaair.org/

You can also tour a Titan missle silo in the town of Green Valley (a bit
south of Tucson):
http://www.pimaair.org/tmm/index.html

If you haven't been to the desert before:
- Drink water
- Wear a good hat
- Drink more water
- Be aware of wx forecasts as it's our "monsoon" season
- Drink even more water

HTH,

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

[Cub Driver]

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. I don't know if it's open for visitors;
at the time I was there, my father worked there, cannibalizing parts
and shipping them out.

There may also be a civilian graveyard somewhere around, but I don't
think it would be as interesting.


On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 04:46:52 GMT, "G. Sylvester"
> wrote:

>I will be going to Tucson in the next couple of days. IIRC
>there is an airport graveyard/mothball site somewhere nearby
>that you can visit? What are the names, locations (if you have
>it) and are they worth visiting?
>
>thanks in advance.
>
>Gerald Sylvester
>


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net
In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com

[[email protected]]

When I was out in Scottsdale in March of 2000 I only had enough time to
get to one museum, so we drove out to Pima Air Museum. I wanted to get
to the AMARC site as well but figured it'd be more enjoyable to go
through one museum taking my time versus rushing through two. Besides,
the aircraft at Pima are in considerably better shape : )

[Matt Barrow]

"Cub Driver" > wrote in message
...
> Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. I don't know if it's open for visitors;
> at the time I was there, my father worked there, cannibalizing parts
> and shipping them out.
>
> There may also be a civilian graveyard somewhere around, but I don't
> think it would be as interesting.
>

The civilian graveyard would be Boot Hill in Tombstone, a few miles east.

[Dick Meade]

"Matt Barrow" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> The civilian graveyard would be Boot Hill in Tombstone, a few miles east.
>

Well, yeah, but there actually is a civilian aircraft boneyard about 30
miles West. Pinal Airpark. The only way to see it up close is to fly in.
They will not allow drive-in visitors.

Also, AMARC is only accessible by organized tours, and only on certain days.
I think week days only, but check first.

[Rob]

Dick Meade wrote:
> Also, AMARC is only accessible by organized tours, and only on certain days.
> I think week days only, but check first.


The website says:

"Tours are given Monday through Friday (excluding federal holidays) and
last approximately one hour."

This is a bummer for us working stiffs. A year or so ago a friend and
I flew down to TUS from Scottsdale and toured the Pima Air Museum. I'd
love to make a weekend day of the AMARC in the same way.

-R

[Rob]

Jay Beckman wrote:
> If you haven't been to the desert before:
> - Drink water
> - Wear a good hat
> - Drink more water
> - Be aware of wx forecasts as it's our "monsoon" season
> - Drink even more water

Sunscreen is good too. Get the highest SPF you can find.

-R

[Robert M. Gary]

You cannot visit the graveyard since they aircraft are technically only
"mothballed" (i.e. could still be flown). However, there is a wonderful
museum across the street.

[Jay Beckman]

"Robert M. Gary" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> You cannot visit the graveyard since they aircraft are technically only
> "mothballed" (i.e. could still be flown). However, there is a wonderful
> museum across the street.
>

Robert,

There are tours available...see my reply to the OP.

Jay B

[G. Sylvester]

I went to the Pima museum today. Wow. Basically they have a bunch
of clean airplanes kept in hangers and a TON of ones outside
that are basically left to collect dust. You can't go into the
planes outside but you can walk around and polk your head into any
opening or walk up and knock on wings of the wildest
experimental / one-off / concept airplanes from B52's to
Raytheon Starships (stuck in the back corner) to Air Force 1's
to F15's to stuff I couldn't dream up much less would even
could begin to think it could fly. they had non-flyable but
beautifully restored B17, B24, B25, B29 and others.

Overall, it is some amazing collection. I didn't have enough
time as you can easily spend a full day there not including
AMRAC (whatever the acronym is). I think the Museum of Flight
is better in some ways but not many aviation museums come
close to this one. I can't wait to go back.

As a side note, the Desert Museum is also excellent.

Gerald