309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group

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"AMARC" redirects here. For other uses, see AMARC (disambiguation).
309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group
B52sdestroyed.jpg
Active 1946 – present
Country United States
Branch Air Force
Type Group
Role Equipment Support
Part of Air Force Materiel Command
Garrison/HQ Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
Commanders
Current
commander		 Colonel Robert S Lepper
Insignia
Emblem 309 AMARG.jpg
Aerial View of AMARG, 16 May 1992.
Welcome sign at AMARG before its 2007 name change.
Boeing 707s being used for salvage parts for the C-135 airframe at AMARG.
UH-1 Iroquois helicopters and F-4 Phantom fighters at AMARG
B-1 bombers in storage at AMARG
Navy and Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighters in storage at AMARG.

The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG),[1] often called The Boneyard, is a United States Air Force aircraft and missile storage and maintenance facility in Tucson, Arizona, located on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. AMARG was previously Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, AMARC, the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center, MASDC, and was established after World War II as the 3040th Aircraft Storage Group.

AMARG takes care of more than 4,400 aircraft, which makes it the largest aircraft storage and preservation facility in the world. An Air Force Materiel Command unit, the group is under the command of the 309th Maintenance Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. AMARG was originally meant to store excess Department of Defense and Coast Guard aircraft, but has in recent years been designated the sole repository of out-of-service aircraft from all branches of the US government.

History

AMARG was established in 1946[2] as the 4105th Army Air Force Base Unit to house B-29 and C-47 aircraft. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was chosen because of Tucson's low humidity, infrequent rainfall, alkaline soil and high altitude of 2,550 feet (780 m), reducing rust and corrosion.[3][4] The hard soil makes it possible to move aircraft around without having to pave the storage areas.

In 1948, after the Air Force's creation as a separate service, the unit was renamed the 3040th Aircraft Storage Depot. In 1965, the depot was renamed the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center (MASDC), and tasked with processing aircraft for all the US armed forces (not just the Air Force). The U.S. Navy had operated its own boneyard at Naval Air Station Litchfield Park at Goodyear, Arizona for Navy, Marine and Coast Guard aircraft. In February 1965, some 500 aircraft were moved from Litchfield Park to Davis-Monthan AFB. NAS Litchfield Park was finally closed in 1968.[5]

In the 1980s, the center began processing ICBMs for dismantling or reuse in satellite launches, and was renamed the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) to reflect the expanded focus on all aerospace assets.[6]

In the 1990s, in accordance with the START I treaty, the center was tasked with eliminating 365 B-52 bombers.[7] The progress of this task was to be verified by Russia via satellite and first-person inspection at the facility. Initially, the B-52s were chopped into pieces with a 13,000-pound guillotine winched by a steel cable, supported by a crane.[8] Later on, the tool of choice became K-12 rescue saws. This more precise technique afforded AMARG with salvageable spare parts.

In May 2007, command of AMARG was transferred to the 309th Maintenance Wing, and the center was renamed the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.[1]

McDonnell F-4C-20-MC Phantom II AF Serial No. 63-7602 of the 4455th CCTS/4453d Combat Crew Training Wing, 16 July 1970. Aircraft was scrapped at Hill AFB, UT November 1986

Lineage

  • Constituted on 7 October 1964 as The Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center
    • Activated on 1 February 1965[9]
    • Redesignated Aerospace Maintenance & Regeneration Center c. 1 October 1985
    • Redesignated 309th Aerospace Maintenance & Regeneration Group on 2 May 2007

Predecessors

  • Designated as the 4105th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Aircraft Storage) and organized on 15 November 1945
    • Redesignated 4105th Air Force Base Unit (Aircraft Storage) on 26 September 1947
    • Redesignated 3040th Aircraft Storage Depot on 28 August 1948
    • Redesignated 3040th Aircraft Storage Squadron
    • Discontinued on 1 June 1956[9]
  • Designated as the Arizona Aircraft Storage Squadron and organized on 1 June 1956
    • Discontinued on 1 August 1959[10]
  • Designated as the 2704th Air Force Aircraft Storage and Disposition Group and organized on 1 August 1959
    • Discontinued on 1 February 1965[9]

Storage procedures

There are four categories of storage for planes at AMARG:

  • Long Term – Aircraft are kept intact for future use
  • Parts Reclamation – Aircraft are kept, picked apart and used for spare parts
  • Flying Hold – Aircraft are kept intact for shorter stays than Long Term
  • Excess of DoD needs – Aircraft are sold off whole or in parts

AMARG employs 550 people, almost all civilians. The 2,600 acres (11 km2) facility is adjacent to the base. For every $1 the federal government spends operating the facility, it saves or produces $11 from harvesting spare parts and selling off inventory.[11] Congressional oversight determines what equipment may be sold to which customer.

An aircraft going into storage undergoes the following treatments:

  • All guns, ejection seat charges, and classified hardware are removed.
  • The fuel system is protected by draining it, refilling it with lightweight oil, and then draining it again. This leaves a protective oil film.
  • The aircraft is sealed from dust, sunlight, and high temperatures. This is done using a variety of materials, ranging from a high tech vinyl plastic compound, called spraylat after its producer the Spraylat Corporation, of an opaque white color sprayed on the aircraft, similar to garbage bags. The plane is then towed by a tug to its designated "storage" position.

The Group annually in-processes an undisclosed number of aircraft for storage and out-processes a number of aircraft for return to the active service, either repainted and sold to friendly foreign governments, recycled as target or remotely controlled drones[12] or rebuilt as civilian cargo, transport, and/or utility planes.[13] There is much scrutiny over who (civilians, companies, foreign governments) can buy what kinds of parts. At times, these sales are canceled. The Air Force for example reclaimed several F-16s from AMARG for the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Courses which were originally meant to be sold to Pakistan, but never delivered due to an early-90's embargo.

Accessibility

AMARG is a controlled-access site, and is off-limits to anyone not employed there without the proper clearance. The only access for non-cleared individuals is via a bus tour which is conducted by the nearby Pima Air & Space Museum. Bus tours are Monday through Friday only.[14]

Use in movies and TV

AMARG has also been site of filming for scenes in several movie and television productions, despite the rather heavy security of AMARG and the base in general. The most recent and notable of these is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The exterior scenes of the Smithsonian set were actually filmed in the Boneyard. The background of several shots can be clearly recognized while looking toward the fence-line from one of the major streets that run along the perimeter.[15]

Other works include the 1987 movie Can't Buy Me Love, the 1991 movie Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man; the music video for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' song "Learning To Fly"; and various other productions, including a brief shot in Baraka.[16] The Boneyard was also featured in an episode of TNT's The Great Escape. In it, contestants had to find their way out of the maze of planes and equipment.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Official 309th AMRG Renaming Ceremony.
  2. ↑ USAF AMARC Fact Sheet.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News July 1966, pp. 18
  6. ↑ AMARC Experience Story.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Accessed 28 December 2009.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 See Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Abstract, History The Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center, April 1946-May 1974 Retrieved 14 December 2013
  11. ↑ Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (official website).
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Accessed 28 December 2009.
  14. ↑ Pima Air & Space Museum Official Site.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

External links

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