As a former F-15 crew chief (and tax payer [:@] ), these photos just kill me!

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?i...sok=&photo_nr=

y does it kill you?

man look at all those phantoms and wingless F-16's

is not possible to buy one and put it in the garden?

Mark its even tougher if you have even been to Davis Monthan AFB and
seen them in person. I have been there a couple of times, and its quite
an eye opener

Don't worry,
when the Aliens attack, the Government will get these birds back in the air. Everyone will be a jet pilot!

Because most of those aircraft were still serviceable until they were stripped and stacked out there. It has to be one of the biggest wastes of US money. It only happens because some stupid politicians made a deal with the former axis nations (SALT II), in an attempt to keep an even playing field [:-]

It is sad. But come to think of it, what is the US supposed to do with all those airplanes? Ship them to Japan as junk? They are junk, sad but true.

Freedom is not FREE..................................It's called the Price of Peace............... IMO its better here than to be littering a battlefield..........

Semper Fi
Joe

What's really sad is that the calculator I have can't even display enough digits if I were to venture into doing the math for the approximate cost of all the aircraft displayed on this photo. This is what I pay so much taxes for? Ridiculous is not the word....

Amen!

Is that right? I thought SALT II covered only strategic nuclear weapons, and the B-52s that were destroyed for compliance were cut up about a decade ago. I did not know that SALT II covered F-15s, F-16s, T-38s, transport aircraft, all the stuff in that photo. But correct me if I am wrong.
I also thought the military generally only put aircraft in the boneyard for good reasons...either they had too many of them, or the type is obsolete, or the airframe is worn out. Have not heard of a lot of perfectly good aircraft thrown into the desert just as waste, as I understand it, all the stuff out there is out there for a good reason, and it has nothing to do with stupid politicians making a deal with former axis(Japan? Germany? Italy? Those were the Axis forces...you mean Warsaw Pact forces?) nations, in an attempt to keep an even playing field.
The F-15 first entered service, in what, 1973? Perhaps those aircraft out there are THIRTY FOUR years old. We tend to forget that many of these "modern" types have been around for a while.
The F-14 is being phased out by the FA18 and others, too. I would guess the ones in the pic are the first squadrons that were retired?
The T-38, been in service a long time, or no? Dates back to the early sixties? Awful lot of training time on those airframes out in the desert, yes? Bet those ones out there have been replaced by other trainers...

Maybe your right, though, it's just stupid politicians. Probably liberals.

I've heard that nowadays they inventory and preserve the aircraft very well. They know what they have, as far as spares, and what can be sold to overseas forces. They put them there in the desert because it's the best place, climate-wise, for preservation, and they get parts as they need them, and only chop up stuff they absolutely know will never be needed again.

Deep stuff. Well said.

I dunno about that. Would you rather our current boys still be flying F-100's? Just because they still have a few hundred hours of useable time left on them? Things get old, things become obsolete.

Easytiger, you have a very valid point there. Yes, it is true that many of these aircraft types entered service literally decades ago. They may very well be some of the first to fly. I guess that when you consider the amount of tax dollars our government wastes, it's hard to look at a pic like this with an open mind. Thanks for pointing that out.

True that, but we're not talking about F-100's. Look at this pic....There are many of these aircraft types still in use today, but like you said, they may have been some of the first to fly when they entered service so many years ago. Anyway, not like there's much we can do about in either case. Regards,

Richie

Hey, don't get me wrong, the government wastes a TON of money!
But I don't know if this is a good example.
I always forget, too, how many of our most modern types are not modern at all! How many F-15s and F-16s are now in "second line" Air Guard squadrons? In my MIND, these aircraft are still new, just like you are thinking. I would bet the ones down there in the desert have reached the end of their airframe life.

Can you buy one for your garden?
Well, a freind of mine has a Grumman Albatross he is flying, that came out of the desert after some 20+ years of storage. The gobmint charged him a FAIR price, they did not give it away....

In that case. I'll take an F-14 please.... (I wish)

No joke...I heard Dale "Snort" Snograss, the guy flying the Tomcat in your avatar, was trying to buy a dozen Tomcats, I think to fly as an agressor squadron under contract to the military or something like that...so it's certainly POSSIBLE you might buy a Tomcat...for real!
Down in Florida, there is a company that already does it...they fly A-4s. Nice gig, mixing it up with Navy squadron guys, and getting paid for it.
Flightsafety, who does work with instrumentation testing, has several F-100s and A-4s they use on a routine basis, they have cool white and blue paint jobs. Once did a YA A-4 in the Flightsafety scheme.

Fellow I know works for a company that was just given an Apache on loan, so he could test power-line avoidance systems they are developing.

There were some nice Mig-29s for sale on ebay, all crated up and here in the states, ready to be delivered, on ebay, a few years back. Pretty good deals, too!

I remember when you could get a crated Mig 15 for $12k

Oh yea, Dale's story was the inspiration that drove my decision for the avatar. I will always be a diehard Tomcat fan. I hate that it's being phased out, but what can we do about it? The idea of being able to go to my local airport and fire up a couple of turbines to my OWN Tomcat would definitely be the multi million dollar dream for me. Until then, I'll keep on dreamin baby!!! Iceman out.... Regards,

Richie

I actually know of someone who has one parked at the Danbury Airport in CT. The FedEx station I worked for about 4 years ago is right next to the airport. Nothing like the smell of jet fuel during the morning sort. The Mig is definitely an awesome view. I believe this guy was having restoration work done to it to make it flight worthy last time I checked. I had the pleasure of delivering to the control tower on a couple of occasions and I made inquiries about it. FYI...anyway, gotta go pick up the kids from camp. Later dudes.

Richie

The problem is WE ALL LOVE AVIATION, that's why we are here right? These two or three boneyards collect 40~50 years of muscle power, which of course breaks our pasionate heart.

If we could compile all the stuff we've put on car junkers for the past 40 years, we could probably have enough steel and aluminum to rebuild Manhattan completely.

Face it guys, it hurts becaus we love airplanes.

There are still plenty of them around for $20k, more or less!
Friend of mine wanted one, he was serious, and has the flight skills and such.
The problems, as he found out, with the Mig-15, were that the FAA was pretty much set against that particular plane flying in the USA. Very poor build quality, it was a semi-disposeable airplane. The engines have a fifteen hour TBO...they were supposed to send the engine back to the factory for service after only fifteen hours. The factory would strip them down completely, and toss a lot of worn parts, and rework the rest and build new engines out them, something like that. It was not designed to last, it was not designed to be serviced, it was designed to be flown for fifteen hours and then rebuilt in total. That's what my friend found out, and that's why the prices were(and are) still low.
Saw a Mig-21, which is built to a better standard, for $125k.
There are a lot of pretty advanced aircraft out there selling for cheapo prices, like F-100s and Mig-21s and such, but the planes you actually see guys FLYING are stuff like the L-39, planes that are built to a high standard, and that they can actually afford to fuel and maintain. Sabres, you see a bunch of them, too. And Hunters. But my guess is that the number of airframes around greatly exceeds the number of guys who can actually afford to fly them, and have the skills to fly them, so that's why you see Bonanzas often selling for more than jet fighters!