I took my camera on a bike ride and snapped a few shots last fall.
These are a couple of recently retired B-52s, some of the most recent arrivals. I saw on CNN the Air Force was retiring their oldesd B-52s and sure enough, these guys show up a few weeks later. More have shown up since I took this picture.
there are rows of these guys. I believe they are EC-130s but am not 100% sure. They look like the ones that fly around Tucson and are stationed at DM.
These distinctive looking planes are the A-10s. DM flies lots of A-10s and you can see these guys in the skies of Tucson every weekday.So far, everything I have showed you is on the west side of Kolb Road. Planes on the west side are considered in storage and may fly again. When planes cross the bridge to the east side of Kolb, they are being scrapped. They end up looking something like this.
If you ever visit Tucson, it is definitely a landmark that you should at least drive by. There are several good places to get out and look at the planes and they are used to avaiation buffs stopping to gawk at planes. Definitely worth checking out if you visit.
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Check out the google satellite view of the place. It's huge. Not only airplanes, but helicopters, trucks and other stuff you all paid for.
The A-10s are still in service, so they are most likely there for upgrade storage.
Believe me, I know the A-10s are still in service...they fly here all the time!
They have discovered cracks in the wings which have grounded a lot of them. Many have been repaired, but the training of new A-10 pilots is still slower than usual. The ones I took a picture of are on the west side of the road indicating they can be recalled. There are some on the east side as well that are obviously not going to fly again as they are missing large, important looking pieces.
I saw a program on the History channel about that place. Showed how they cannibalize some planes for parts, repair others, store others, etc. Very interesting.
At least, I assume it was about that base, as I don't recall exactly.
Hey, hale, don't get picked up for suspicion of spying by taking photos. Homeland security and all that stuff, you know.
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