A visit to the Boneyard: A retirement home for warplanes

So Cool!

The Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson is the retirement setting of some of the most iconic military planes, from bombers to fighters, such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Under the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, the plane’s vital organs are harvested and shipped off to keep other planes flying.

This place serves as some kind of the nation’s strategic back pocket, where some of the best planes are cocooned from the ravages of time. They’re first sealed in black latex, and then in white to reflect the heat of the sun. The planes here can sit safely like this for years.