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Visit to
AMARC
AMARC stands
for Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center. It is better known as the
“Bone Yard”. It is co-located with Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson
Arizona. It is where the US stores aircraft for parts or demolition. However, I
did see a German Tornado there. I visited there in March 1997. "If I
remember correctly, its the only US government agency that makes a profit."
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F-16's in both above pics |
The tours
are free, and were offered twice daily on first come, first served basis.
You ride on an Air Force bus, and have a narrator. You can’t get off the
bus for pictures, but they were very accommodating to requests to stop along the
way for pictures. Most of the pics were taken when the bus was stopped,
the roads are rough, and many of my bad shots show that.
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| This CH-53
is a D model that use to be at HMX-1. It was retired due to the
fact cracks where found near the main gearbox during an inspection.
It was sent there in the mid 90's and all CH-53D's where replaced with
the newer CH-53E Super Stallion. |
SR-71
Drone |
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F-111 |
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It’s amazing to see the
chopped up B-52s. They sit there for a period of time so Russian
satellites can confirm that they were destroyed.
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| Editors
note: These B-52's were destroyed as part of a Arms Limitation
Treaty. The B-52's were brought here....hundreds of them were
parked in neat rows... and then a crane with a huge concrete
"slicing blade" would move to each plane and slice the wings
off at the wing route. The crane used this huge concrete slicing
blade like a guillotine. The crane would then hoist up the wings and
neatly place them along side the fuselage. |
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A-7's
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I have heard
of reunions at AMARC for crews for specific airplanes, also.
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F-4 Phantoms
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The tour
takes you on the flight line of Davis Monthan, and I was able to get some good
pictures of the A-10s, EC-130s, and rescue helicopters. They also have a
“Snowbird” area, which many cold-area Air National Guard units deploy
to. That area was empty when I was there, but I have seen pics of it full
during the winter months.
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| A-6 Intruder
and A-4 Skyhawk |
Various
Aircraft |
Our narrator
was an EC-130 pilot from the base. I don’t know if they are still
offering the tours since the September 11th incident. If you are in
the area, I highly suggest checking it out.
Ken
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Sign at entrance
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