This country's largest military aircraft storage center began in the heady days following the end of World War II. At first only a small desert site holding bombers and transports in reserve for possible future use, it later became more of a salvage and parts recovery operation, and in many cases, a final resting place known as "the boneyard." In the 1950s and 1960s, with new wars erupting in Korea and Vietnam, certain aircraft stored in this desert center were once again in demand, and this famed storage and salvage facility in Tucson, Arizona, answered the call. Numerous photographs taken both from the air and on the ground show the reader vistas of the 4,000 total airplanes stored at this site, while a detailed appendix gives a comprehensive listing of all the aircraft types currently at AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group). In many cases, the numbers are quite staggering and are sure to surprise the reader.
Author Biography
Nicholas A. Veronico is a science and technology writer who works for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific at the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Science Center at NASA Ames. He is the author of more than two dozen books on military and aviation subjects, and served as the lead scriptwriter for Scrapping Aircraft Giants, a Discovery Channel documentary on commercial aircraft scrapping. Ron Strong always had an interest in aircraft and photography. While serving in the Air Force, Strong worked on aircraft with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico and with a Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Florida. He later worked at the Alameda Naval Air Rework Facility in Flight Test. For the past 25 years, he has worked for NASA performing wind-tunnel testing on civilian aircraft. The last eight years at NASA have been spent working on the SOFIA program.
