The largest airplane cemetery on the planet is located in the city of Arizona in the state of Tucson in the United States. Its official name is “309 Aerospace Engineering Maintenance and Repair Group”. The area of the facility is about 10 km 2 . It has more than four thousand aircraft and about forty spacecraft mothballed at one time or another. Engines, ammunition, wiring, electronics and other equipment that is a state secret have been removed from them. The total value of all equipment located here is estimated at more than $ 35 billion.
Aircraft storage conditions
Aircraft cemetery in Arizona is part of the Davis-Montaign air base, built almost immediately after the end of World War II. It should be noted that the area is located at a considerable height above sea level. In this regard, the climate here is very dry, which allows you to save the body of the aircraft from corrosion, even in outdoor storage conditions. About eighty percent of them are already sawn into scrap metal. The remaining aircraft are sealed with polyethylene and can be used at any time in case of need.
Importance for the American Economy
The Arizona cemetery also serves as a real processing plant. In particular, over the past years, the base specialists reconstructed about nineteen thousand elements and spare parts that can be used in the future or sold. Their total value is over 568 million US dollars. According to the policy of the US government, other countries can purchase here not only components, but also entire airliners. According to economists, every dollar invested in this cemetery of aircraft, over time, allows you to return to the state treasury eleven times more. The fact is that after the repair carried out by local specialists, many of them are again used. In particular, based on official statistics, over the past 25 years, about twenty percent of the ships sent here returned to service. This cemetery of planes is also known for the fact that it was here that some scenes were shot from the fantastic movie “Transformers. Revenge of the Fallen. ”
Russian Aircraft Cemetery
A similar place exists in our country. On the Khodynsky field, not far from Moscow, there is an abandoned airfield. On its territory are stored helicopters and planes that have not taken off since 2003. Currently unauthorized access is denied here. Initially, it was planned to open a museum of aviation equipment at this place, but later the project was frozen and is in this state today. Now the airplane cemetery on the Khodynsky field is a huge territory, which is surrounded by barbed wire and is guarded. Despite this, some still manage to negotiate with the guards for a fee and make unique photos here against the backdrop of dilapidated aircraft. Despite the fact that most of them are deprived of paint and glass, they still look bewitching.