The most expensive and possibly the largest army cemetery in the world for old equipment is the American Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, or The Boneyard, as the locals call this base. The Cemetery, or rather the 309th Aerospace Service and Recycling Center (AMARG), is an American air base known as the world's largest military aircraft burial ground. Spread over ten and a half square kilometers, equivalent to 1,430 football fields, the Cemetery is a collection of over 4,000 decommissioned aircraft, including virtually all aircraft used by the US military since World War II.
For the first time, high-resolution images of this area have appeared on Google Earth, and they show the full range of aircraft on display with stunning accuracy.
Among them are B-52 bombers from the Cold War, decommissioned in the 1990s as part of disarmament measures under the terms of strategic arms limitation negotiations between the United States and the USSR. In addition, the images show dozens of F-14 fighters decommissioned by the US Navy in 2006 and used in the Top Gun movie. The center is located at Davis Monten Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona and was founded shortly after World War II. The location was chosen due to its high altitude and dry climate, which made it possible to leave the aircraft in the open air without destructive consequences.
Annually, about 400 units are deposited, and the same amount is discarded (sold to friendly countries or destroyed). This number does not include fleets destroyed under separate interstate agreements.
AMARG has over 4,200 aircraft and 40 aerospace vehicles. As the world's largest fleet, AMARG is also refurbishing aircraft, giving them back the ability to take off or move on the ground. The total cost of the entire fleet is about $ 35 billion.
When storing, weapons and secret equipment are dismantled from all vehicles. Fuel systems are drained and pumped with oil, which forms a protective film.
The base management reports that every dollar spent on recovery translates into $ 11 in income.
There is more than one cemetery of military aircraft in Russia. Here is a good example of one of them - the former central airfield named after Frunze, which also turned into a haven for abandoned aircraft.
At the beginning of the 2000s, it was planned that on the site of the former airfield there will be a National Museum of Cosmonautics and Aviation, several hotel and office complexes with apartments, a residential complex, a school, a club of foreign intelligence veterans and objects of the Historical Landscapes of Moscow park.
However, so far only a few residential buildings have been built on the huge field. At the same time, in the open air on Khodynka there are airplanes that are destroyed from time and bad weather. The MiG-29 and Su-15 fighters, the Mi-24 helicopters and the huge Mi-6, as well as other flight equipment are protected from the curious only by the netting.
The construction of the museum requires about 22 million rubles, of which Moscow is ready to allocate 8 million - but this is not enough and the state does not want to allocate the remaining money, because the project will not be commercial and will not bring any profit.
Sometime in 1922, for the first time in the history of Russia, international air flights began from here on the route Moscow - Koenigsberg - Berlin, and then in 23, internal passenger flights Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod. Our famous aviation design bureaus of Sukhoi, Mikoyan, Ilyushin, Yakovlev are located around. Nesterov, Utochkin, Chkalov took off from here. In 1938, Chkalov died over this airfield.
In 1910, the Aeronautics Society established an airfield here, which was built mainly with donations from aviation enthusiasts.
Now this place is a filthy wasteland with dead planes and "elite houses" around. Here they were going to create the Great Museum of Aviation and Space Power of Russia. What they created can be seen in the photographs.
Almost all planes have blisters broken, debris inside, crowds of kids are climbing on them.
There is a guarded house on the field. There is also security there, but it does not interfere with the destruction of aircraft, although it forbids taking photographs.
On one of the sites there is a very interesting advertisement for the sale of these most abandoned planes:
Sale of military aircraft and helicopters, hangar rental.
"AVKF" Khodynskoe Pole, offers decommissioned military aircraft and helicopters. For creating: monuments, steles, promotions, for filming films and any other purposes. All documentation is available.
Mig-21. For sale in Russia 10-20t.dol. Outside Russia 40-70 t.doll.
Mig-23. For sale in Russia 10-20t.dol. Outside Russia 40-70 t.doll.
Mig-25. For sale in Russia 10-20t.dol. Outside Russia 40-70 t.doll.
Mig-27. For sale in Russia 10-20t.dol. Outside Russia 40-70 t.doll.
Mig-29. For sale in Russia 15-25t.dol. Outside Russia 50-70 t.doll.
Su- 7. For sale in Russia 10-20t.dol. Outside Russia
40-70 t.doll.
Su- 15. For sale in Russia 10-20t.dol. Outside Russia
40-70 t.doll. (interceptor)
Su- 17. For sale in Russia 10-20t.dol. Outside Russia
40-70t.doll. (fighter-bomber)
Su-25. For sale in Russia 10-20t.dol. Outside Russia
40-70 t.doll. (attack aircraft)
Su- 27. For sale in Russia 20-30t.dol. Outside Russia
60-80 t.doll. (the most perfect plane in the world)
Unmanned reconnaissance aircraft For sale in Russia 20-30t.
dollars Outside Russia 40-60 t. Dollars.
Il - 14. For sale in Russia 100-150 t.dol. Outside Russia
USD 150-220
Helicopters.
Mi-2, Mi-8, Mi-24. For sale in Russia 10-30t.dol. Outside Russia 30-70 t.doll.
