309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, Aircraft boneyard and maintenance facility at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, United States.
The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group is a storage and maintenance facility for military planes located on the grounds of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. It covers a large desert area with thousands of aircraft arranged in long, parallel rows.
The facility opened shortly after World War II as a central storage site for surplus military aircraft of the American forces. Over the decades, the grounds expanded and took in planes from different conflicts and modernization phases.
The site relies on the arid desert air to keep retired machines in usable condition, while engineers harvest parts for active fleets around the world. Visitors can see through the perimeter fence rows of planes whose names and markings still show on the fuselages.
Access is restricted because it is a secure military zone, but organized bus tours occasionally offer a view of the collection. Anyone visiting the area should check in advance whether tour dates are available.
Aircraft entering storage are washed with fresh water and dried, then their fuel systems are drained, refilled with lightweight oil, engines run to coat the plumbing, and drained again, leaving a protective oil film. Ejection seat charges and classified hardware are removed first. The site has also served as a film set, appearing in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Baraka.
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