Warbird Information Exchange

I purchased the recently published book AMARG - America's Military Aircraft Boneyard. It's a good book. I'd say most of the photos were taken in the 1995 to current time frame. I'm sure someone could find out the exact time frame. I've looked through the book and the time frame of the photos is not listed. Most of the photo captions list when the aircraft entered storage. I've noticed a couple of minor errors in the photo captions concerning basic items but it's not easy to put a caption to hundreds of photos.

I never authored a book but I am contemplating the idea. I have approx. 500 photos of MASDC/AMARC that I took during 1977-79, 1985-87, and 1994. I'm thinking of captions & I'm looking at a big task. My photos cover the end of the radial engines as the last ones still around were being retired from the military. I saw some of the last C-121s and KC-97s land and taxi to the boneyard. Most of my photos were of MASDC when there were plenty of older aircraft in storage such as: C-47s, C-123s, C-119s, C-121s, KC-97s, S-2s, HU-16s, C-118s, P-2Vs, T-28s, C-131s, century series fighters, H-34s, H-3s, H-53s,& UH-1s. I have just about all the boneyard books published since the mid 1980s and only one or two have similar photos. Most of the books I've seen have photos collected from others but all my photos were taken by me. What a blast. I was stationed at D-M and worked on the flightline across from the boneyard. I was able to take all these photos when they had photographic tours, on unofficial and official business, shooting through the fence, and by visiting a friend who worked in MASDC - "official" unofficial business. The photos in the thread "Monthan Memories circa 1968" are some of the best photos I have seen. I've been following the boneyard since 1977 and I haven't seen many photos other than the several books published and an occasional magazine article. It's a great place to visit and a heck of a place for an aircraft buff to get stationed. There are a lot more AMARG photos around but they are sitting in someone's closet (like mine).

Nathan

I think I found a book you could be looking for. The name of it is: HIGH VIZ - US Cold War Aircraft by Michael O'Leary published by Osprey Publishing in 1994. I did a quick search on-line and the book is available (depending how much you want to spend). I have a copy & it's a good one with all colorful aircraft. Most every aircraft is painted with some day glo/fluorescent red orange. Plenty of props, radial engines, helos, and early jets. Most photos taken in the 1960s. It's worth having on the shelf.

Larry

I have that book also, and I AGREE it is a Great collection of photos of U.S. Military Aircraft in high visibility markings. That gathering of day-glo marked aircraft (mainly USAF and Air National Guard transports) in Las Vegas in September 1962 must have been something to see!

Hi Larry,

That sounds like a heck of a great idea - I'd buy that book!! Like you, I too think I have every book on AMARG that's been published since the late 80s.

I also have 100+ photos I took myself at DM in the summer of 1987. Back when you could get off the bus and walk around. Lots of neat stuff in the RIT area - EF-10B Skyknights, F-101s, F-105s, etc. I think I could have spent most of the tour in the RIT area! Plus QF-100 Super Sabre drones on the ramp. What a great trip. I've never shared more than one or two of them but I do enjoy looking at them from time to time...

Very cool that you had first hand access by being stationed there! Love you see your photos - do you have them "digitized" yet?

-Derek

Hello Derek

I enjoyed every minute of being stationed at Davis-Monthan. Tucson is a great place & I love the state of AZ. I started taking photos the 1st week I arrived there. Newcomers to the base met for a day or two to get a briefing on the base & what it had to offer. Included was a bus tour of MASDC. We didn't get off but I shot several pictures that day. That's when the fun began. I regret now that I didn't take advantage of more photographic tours (1 Saturday a month). I was stationed there exactly 2 years and went on at least 3 of these tours. Like you I found the RIT fascinating. It's a shame to see the aircraft torn up but it was interesting in another way. Some of the photos are a one of a type aircraft situation. For example: I have a photo of a B-52D wing set supported on wood still attached to the fuselage center box. The rest of the aircraft is gone. Another one is a B-57 in Southeast Asia paint scheme with truck kills painted on the side of the fuselage/cockpit area.

I have photos that I have not seen in any other book. Only recently I have shared them with a new coworker/aircraft buff. He mentioned I should do a book. I recently put them on discs and I'd like others to see them but I won't put them out to the public until I decide what to do.

I consider myself lucky like you said because of the 1st hand access. I was a helicopter mechanic in the USAF and we operated across the road from the boneyard. Our flightline area was at the end of the runway and if an aircraft had to taxi to the boneyard they had to taxi past us. Sometimes the aircraft being brought in were parked on the transient ramp and a MASDC crew would tow the aircraft to the boneyard. I had my camera with me quite a bit. Sometimes I shot pictures on the ramp. Other than the official tours you had to have a reason to get into the boneyard. You had to get a pass. I have helped tow a helicopter into the boneyard and was able to take photos. I went to get a part for a helo in the boneyard and was able to take photos. I had to turn in some aircraft records and was able to take photos. Another time we got a pass by using the excuse that we had business in a specific shop but in reality we didn't and we took photos. We did however have a friend who worked in that specific shop so we did stop to see him to make it official. But we were there for photos. I could see the boneyard from the window of our barracks. Other times I would get on my bike and pedal along the long road on one side of the boneyard. It was a long dead end road and hardly traveled in comparison to other roads. I'd stop and shoot through the fence. I also did this at the scrapyard that are along side of the base.

It was a fun time and I enjoy looking at the photos. The years of 1977-79 were years of change for the military. Piston engines were barely hanging in there (O-2s). Large radial engines were on their way out except for some surviving C-123s & C-131s, C-117s, HU-16s. New jets entering the service and older types leaving. I was able to see more of a variety than what you could see today at least in my opinion. I am now thinking about doing the boneyard book. I did not record the mission design series (F-4D, UH-1F) and the tail number of all the aircraft I took photos of. Time was limited and sometimes the distance to an aircraft was far. This could make a book less attractive to buyers so I have to think what 400-500 captions would state. Some are easy. Some are not.

Besides the MASDC/AMARC photos I have hundreds of military aircraft photos taken back then plus photos of warbirds from the mid 1970s to 200?. Planes of Fame, Confederate Air Force, National Warplanes Museum, and many other museums at air bases across the country. Also have many of the scrapyards around D-M and several other scrapyards in AZ. I just finished having some of these put on discs and I'll share these as soon as I get a chance. Please let me know if there is anything you would like to know that you might find interesting and that I might be able to answer. I started working in aviation in 1977 and I am still at it. Aviation started as a hobby when I was 7 years old and I consider it a blessing that my work is a hobby.

Larry