Want to see a picture of trillions of dollars?

[benburch]

The Aircraft Boneyard at Davis Monthan Air Force Base, AZ

[JuniperLea]

1. We live in the most wasteful nation in the world

And that is only going by what we know...

[JesterCS]

6. Alot of those

are there for a reason. the agreement with Russia after the cold war. They have to sit out.. on display, all in neat rows showing that they arent being used , so that we dont intend to beef up our airforce secretly to attack them.. cold-war era crap =P

[babylonsister]

2. But...but...most of these planes are there because they're

beyond old and useable, right? BTW, awesome pic.

[rockymountaindem]

3. It still makes me sad

Those planes could all make cool displays in small towns and cities across the country if places and people would just spring to make them so.

[ewagner]

4. That place saddens me

for two reasons:

the waste for certain.....France refurbished the Mirage line over and over again and improved it each time....

and also because I was raised around an old crew chief who used to get tears in his eyes whenever "his" plane that carried him across oceans, into combat and through terrible weather got sent off to the boneyard....it was like "putting down your favorite old dog".

[tridim]

5. You have to admit, they're organized very neatly

Wonder if Bush's obsolete plane is there?

[rusty_parts2001]

7. Davis Monthan AFB is a warehouse

The aircraft there are used, in some instances, for replacement parts (i.e. the B-52 line has been shut for almost 40 years) so lots of parts are removed from the bone yard birds and used on the B-52s.

The other big collection of aircraft are F-4 Phantoms, no longer flown except as drones, and the bone yard provides aircraft and parts for that mission.

Some of the other aircraft are still in active duty like the F/A-18, F-14s, and F-15s so parts are used from them as well, although to a lesser extent. The classic planes like the SR-71, B-47s, B-36s, and U-2s are stored in a museum on the premises and are protected from the elements.

The cut-up B-52s, which are in the photo, are the result of the Arms Limitation Treaties wherein the US was required to reduce the fleet of strategic bombers and allow Russian satellites to take pictures to verify their destruction.

For a plane buff, Davis Monthan AFB and the Pima Museum close by are like a big candy store for a chocolate addict.

[Generic Other]

8. Now right there was enough room to house the entire Gulf Coast

Sheesh. That graveyard represents our sweat and blood. All of us!!

[A Simple Game]

9. Remember that picture. In a couple of months

we will probably be seeing pictures of the Iranian Air Force that look an awful lot like it.

[gristy]

10. How do you figure trillions?

What is the new cost of the planes in the picture? What is their scrap cost? Could either of those add up to $1,000,000,000,000?

[benburch]

12. If you scan out from there you see many hundreds of aircraft.

Each of the F-111s cost about $25 million in the 1960s.

Each one of the F-14 Tomcats was about $40 million.

Each one of the B-52 bombers was $74 million.

Each F-15 about $30 million.

[gristy]

13. many hundreds x $50million = 300 x $50million = $15billion

Not trillions.

[benburch]

19. I haven't counted them...

But I am guessing that there are far more than 300.

In any case, you are analyzing too deeply a posting that just supposed to make you go WOW.

[gristy]

21. OK, so next time someone says that the national debt increased by

TRILLIONS under GWB, should I also assume that person is exaggerating to make a point? That it may have only been a few tens of billions? If I did, I would be wrong.

[benburch]

22. BTW, Actual count is 4500...

According to a web site.

[NYC]

11. Housing for the homeless?

Can these planes be converted to apartments? It would be somewhat like living in a trailer. (theoretically movable)

[LibertyorDeath]

14. The The F-22 Raptor costs between 2to3 hundred million $ a copy

Think i'll say it again cause it's so fucking obscene

The The F-22 Raptor costs between 2to3 hundred million $ a copy

[benburch]

18. Well, none of those are in this picture! :-) nt

[obxhead]

15. I have seen this with my own eye....

what was your point though?

[benburch]

17. My point? It's a cool picture!!! nt

[donheld]

16. Would to god it was 100x bigger

Then we could put all our implements of war into it and stop the waste of human lives.

[Beelzebud]

20. Actually this is a picture of trillions of dollars:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Area+51&t=k&ll=37.235795,-115.810661&spn=0.049201,0.107288&t=k

And this is a picture to make mother Earth weep:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Area+51&t=k&ll=37.131856,-116.056137&spn=0.098537,0.214577&t=k

The first is Area 51, where we develop our experimental aircraft. (Think Stealth, not E.T.)

The second is about 15 miles from Area 51 where we tested over 300 nuclear bombs. Tell me that had no effect on our environment and health.