More Davis Monthan Pics

I've published some more pics from Davis Monthan, P3 Orions, B52's F
18's f 111's Cobra's/Huey's and more enjoy..............Rich
http://greenmarble.blogspot.com

Besides chopping these old A/C up ...what else is done with them? are
they ever put up for sale?..... for static displays etc..?

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In article .com, "Rich"
wrote:

Besides chopping these old A/C up ...what else is done with them? are
they ever put up for sale?..... for static displays etc..?

Some do end up as static displays. Some end up as targets in bombing
ranges. A whole bunch of A-6s were dumped at sea to form an artificial
reef. And several A-7s are going to be placed on the former USS America
when she is sunk at sea during explosives tests.



D

D wrote:

----------
In article .com, "Rich"
wrote:


Besides chopping these old A/C up ...what else is done with them? are
they ever put up for sale?..... for static displays etc..?


Some do end up as static displays. Some end up as targets in bombing
ranges. A whole bunch of A-6s were dumped at sea to form an artificial
reef. And several A-7s are going to be placed on the former USS America
when she is sunk at sea during explosives tests.

There were a couple of A-6s on the range at Vieques. Up close (less
than 100') they didn't look like A-6s, they looked like scrap with
all the hits. Farther away of course, they were recognizeable.

There were a couple of A-6s on the range at Vieques. Up close (less than
100') they didn't look like A-6s, they looked like scrap with all the hits.
Farther away of course, they were recognizeable.

Kinda like all those evil Commie bus hulks that used to infest Cold War-era
ranges.

--
Mike Kanze

"All men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for
example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is a vegetable. We have no idea
what mauve is."

- Rules From Guys


"Jim Carriere" wrote in message
.. .
D wrote:

----------
In article .com,
"Rich"
wrote:


Besides chopping these old A/C up ...what else is done with them? are
they ever put up for sale?..... for static displays etc..?


Some do end up as static displays. Some end up as targets in bombing
ranges. A whole bunch of A-6s were dumped at sea to form an artificial
reef. And several A-7s are going to be placed on the former USS America
when she is sunk at sea during explosives tests.

There were a couple of A-6s on the range at Vieques. Up close (less than
100') they didn't look like A-6s, they looked like scrap with all the
hits. Farther away of course, they were recognizeable.

I think only the utility type aircraft can be sold. The combat aircraft
(the ones actually retired) can be loaned for display to governmental
entities including cities and some qualified museums for static display.
Ten years ago, when I was involved in obtaining a jet, your entity
could get on a waiting list, or if you found one that was already out
there that
some entity did not want anymore, Amarc would jump you to the top of
the list
so you could obtain the aircraft. Some minimal rules for display and
care of the aircraft. Kind of a clumsy and confusing operation for
obtaining the aircraft from Amarc. Once id'd and granted the aircraft,
it was
pulled by Amarc to the entrance and then you had a narrow window to
disassemble it as much as you are going to and have it loaded on your
flatbed for transport. Believe there was is a company that will do the
loading for you for $.


You have to contact Amarc and get the rules, then interest your local
entity in an aircraft, then make an application with Amarc to get on
their list and then start hunting for
an aircraft either that is currently on display by someone that no
longer wants it and or
You also have to get the money and volunteer group together to
coordinate the move.
You will need to prepare a site but this
is not super critical because you will have a lot of time after you
get the aircraft to reassemble it and repaint it, which can be an
adventure in itself (My ignorance almost got killed in the process
{thank the good lord we had someone that just happened to be in the
right spot and right time who actually knew what he was doing to save my
ass} and a friend broke his arm) but for a lot of elbow grease and an
overally outlay of about 5,000 (all donated $ about 50% less than we had
figured!) we had a very nice aircraft on display.

Our F-101 obtained from Ellington Field and we kept it in Victoria for
ten years, then the city had a change of heart and allowed a group
(sponsored by a city) from Missouri who had done all their homework and
took it away to a resonably good home I think. Now there is only one
F-101B left in Texas (Cleveland) to represent the F-101's role in the
defense of the Gulf Coast (last time I saw it it was going downhill at
the Cleveland airport but that was many years ago). Bad thing was our
F-101F was actually used by the Tex Air Guard operationally over the
Gulf. The F-101B in Cleveland Texas was obtained from Wichata Falls and
I don't think it was used operationally
over the Gulf. Oh, well. We lowered our guard, just like the Air
Guard themselves did when they let the aircraft get taken by us from
Ellington (the F-101 and F-102 were sitting in a near dump situation
overpainted with the most disgusting weathered shade of pea green paint
one could imagine, on wet ground with rotted tires).

Its quite an adventure obtaining and partially
disassembling/reassembling and externally restoring one of these
aircraft, but its fun, there are a lot of challenges to be overcome
(but you find solutions in the most unexpected places--necessity is the
mother of invention) but you also make a lot of new friends in the effort.

It's something I did once that I would not take a leadership role in
doing again...but I don't regret having done it one bit...especially as
we saved one aircraft from possible oblivion. However, I still shudder a
bit when
I think about how close I came to getting crushed to death due to a
potentially deadly mix of enthusiasm, stress, and ignorance. We got
into a major bind during dissaembly and I had come up with a great? idea
to fix the problem (which worked) but it came extremely close to taking
my life due to my lack of knowledge of physics . Oh, yeah, also during
the period of recovery I got a rusted nail in my foot and almost lost an
eye to a popped rivet. Still it was great fun.

Rich wrote:
Besides chopping these old A/C up ...what else is done with them? are
they ever put up for sale?..... for static displays etc..?