Well, I did it again, I let Hector talk me into going to look at more airplanes. Last year, we spent an afternoon at the Pima Air and Space Museum, and Hector took lots of great photos. But we missed the Boneyard/AMARG Tour, a separate bus tour of the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
The AMARG facility is managed by the U.S. Air Force Material Command. Most aircraft boneyards are used for storage of aircraft for reclamation of spare parts or eventual disposal.
The AMARG facility stores almost 5,000 aircraft and other types of military equipment. Some are kept fully flight ready, others are used for parts and lastly they get scrapped.
The parts operation is huge, shipping all these parts makes the AMARG is one of the largest users of plywood in Arizona!
The aircraft are sealed with special high-tech materials, one layer in black and a top layer in white to keep the heat, which can damage the electronics, down.
There are aircraft from the Air Force, Navy-Marine Corps, Army, Coast Guard and several federal agencies including NASA. As well as lots of engines.
The 1 ½ hour tour leaves from the Pima Air and Space Museum and takes you into into the secure Air Force facility which is frankly amazing. The dry and hard packed desert environment is perfect for keeping these planes in storage. Rows and rows of all kinds of military planes. Very impressive.
And of course, when we returned to the Pima Museum Hector wanted to do a quick walk-through. Last time we were here, we took a trolley car tour of the outdoor area, which has about 150 aircraft. Including some rare and historic specimens.
The advantage of the tours is that the (many, many) docents here are all extremely knowledgeable, and share many interesting facts. Almost all of them are ex-military gentlemen and very charming also.
This time we walked through the outdoor area, and I discovered that many of the planes have QR codes, so I had fun looking them all up. Even more informative than Hector’s running commentary. So, I must admit I did enjoy the visit.
~ Brenda 
Ahhh. planes, planes, and still more planes! We did all those tours two years ago while staying in Tucson. I did enjoy having a guide for most of them but it did get old after awhile. Good that you had a break, Brenda, and didn’t do all of it in one day:)
You’re right, I’ve learned that breaking it up a bit does help 🙂
Brenda
Cool planes!!! Great shots and Brenda you sounded convincingly enthusiastic!!!
Hector and I have been to several of these until I figured out that there are lots of empty planes to be seen and Hector always seems to find them!!!!! Beware!
And don’t let him talk you into canoeing either!!
Too late!!!
Brenda
I love that photo of Brenda! 🙂
🙂
What an incredible collection of planes, and great photographs! Amazing!
Thank you!
Brenda
Hola Hector y Brenda:
somos el matrimonio español que hace tres semanas estuvimos hablando con Brenda desde Tucson. Ustedes estaban allí y nosotros estábamos ya en carretera cuando hablaron las féminas.
Como ya les contamos somos de Las Palmas, España, y nos compramos un RV de 35 ft. hace un año y en marzo empezamos un viaje a través de los USA, ya que me jubilé en ese mes de mi trabajo en España.
Ahora ya estamos de vuelta en nuestra casa y volvemos a principios de marzo , a LAX , donde está en estos momentos el MR MOJO PICÓN, que es el nombre de nuestro RV.
¿por donde andan ustedes ahora?
Nos encantaría conocerles personalmente , así que entraremos en contacto con ustedes más veces.
Ahora estamos esperando nuestro cuarto nieto, que será en febrero, para luego partir para allá.
Mientras tanto reciban un cordial saludo.
ENRIQUE Y ANGELES
Hola, que bueno que nos escribió. Me encanta el nombre de su RV, muy simpático. Seguimos en Arizona, y en enero viajamos a California. Estaremos en San Diego el mes de febrero y de casualidad planeamos ir a Los Angeles en la primera semana de marzo! A nosotros nos encantaria conocerlos a ustedes tambien. Pienso que van a estar muy ocupados hasta que llegue su nieto, pero espero que se mantengan en contacto para coordinar una visita en Marzo.
Muchos saludos,
Brenda
Encantados. Ahora nos estan haciendo algunas cosillas en nuestro RV , pero seguiremos en contacto.
Mientras tanto Feliz Navidad y Próspero año nuevo.
ENRIQUE Y ANGELES DE VIDANIA
You are game Brenda!
Well lucky for me, Steve has visited this boneyard long before our nomadic lifestyle. Otherwise I would be game like you and hang out with our hubby and check this interesting burial place for airplanes.
Great pictures as always, Hector.
So funny, I just don’t know how he remembers all those letters and numbers!
Brenda
As often as we have been to Tucson we have never visited the Boneyard. I enjoyed seeing it through your eyes.
Nice! Now you won’t have to go 🙂
Brenda
Fascinating! I hope you three are enjoying Arizona!
Sending lots of love and hugs,
Rebecca
Yes, we like Arizona very much.
Brenda