airplane graveyards near Las Vegas?

Speak of the Devil look what’s popped up in the TV guide
http://www.ourbrisbane.com/whatson/tv/shows/boneyard-5

Looks great Steve, so you are going to record it and send it to us?!:D (up above).

Fascinating stuff, just out of curiosity (and I will never get to one of these places!) how easy is it to purchase any memorbilla parts from these scrap yard places (i.e control wheels or thottle boxes etc) or is that a impossibility?

If you go to scrapyards, it is normally possible, but most likely not cheap.

Speak of the Devil look what’s popped up in the TV guide
http://www.ourbrisbane.com/whatson/tv/shows/boneyard-5

Mojave’s probably the closest “nearby” A/C graveyard; drove by there about a year and a half ago and all I could see were old airliners. There might be more there I couldn’t see. Edwards isn’t too far away (actually, coming from LV on highway 58 you’ll be on the north edge of the base) but, of course, it’s a military installation, so you probably wouldn’t be allowed on-base (others can correct me if I’m wrong).

The one base in the south-western US that would be fun to go to is Davis-Monthan AB south of Tucson, Arizona, but that’s probably a good 3-4 hour drive from Vegas; almost every aircraft the US military deems to be “unnecessary” goes to Davis-Monthan AB. There are acres and acres of old, retired military aircraft there; when I went by there back in the ’80’s, there were probably 50 or 60 old B-52D’s all lined up, rotting in the Arizona sun. Kinda sad . . . .

Here’s what it looks like from the air:

Fascinating stuff, just out of curiosity (and I will never get to one of these places!) how easy is it to purchase any memorbilla parts from these scrap yard places (i.e control wheels or thottle boxes etc) or is that a impossibility?

Here is a list of aircraft arriving at Goodyear in recent years.

http://www.visitingphx.com/charters.html

Huh? The airfield has lots of aeroplanes on it – particularly old TriStars, 727s and 737s. If you only went to the main entrance and down the side of the ramp, many of the stored aeroplanes wouldn’t be visible. However, if you drive around the outside…

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1258586/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1247011/L/

A few more have been scrapped now, but a few more a/c have arrived since.

Andy

I admit I didn’t go there since 2005. And sure, there were some retired airliners, but not much you couldn’t see at any airport. (I don’t see what could be interesting at a lineup of 767s)

Oh, who said I only drove there ? 😉

Goodyear is largely clear now (a few USPS 727s, an odd former UA DC-10 or two) – certainly not the place it was, but by all means worth a visit if passing – its about 30 miles west of Phoenix.

The “prop” place south of Phoenix, Chandler Memorial field, has been cleared out with the exception of a few sorry looking former Biegert DC-4s, at least one missing its rear fuselage and tail. International Air Response (C-130s, one DC-7), who were at Chandler Memorial, moved to Coolidge and all the other DC-7s were cut up.

Andy

and no mention of Goodyear?
From my visit some 4 years ago that was where I got most though Mojave was most interesting. Also don’t forget the field just to the south of Phoenix that has the piston engined airliners – name escapes me. And if you have time then a visit to DM/MASDC has to be done just for the sheer numbers of aircraft. A few airliners present but mostly military. If you’re driving, as a guide, I did Phoenix to Vegas in a day with a good stop at Kingman and a day round-trip from Phoenix to Tucson allowed a view of Marana and DM.

David

Not much to see old airliners wise in VCV

Huh? The airfield has lots of aeroplanes on it – particularly old TriStars, 727s and 737s. If you only went to the main entrance and down the side of the ramp, many of the stored aeroplanes wouldn’t be visible. However, if you drive around the outside…

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1258586/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1247011/L/

A few more have been scrapped now, but a few more a/c have arrived since.

Andy

Nearest airliner “graveyard” to Las Vegas is Kingman, AZ. Its about 100 miles south east of Vegas heading off towards Phoenix, but allow a good couple of hours to drive there as the route is over the Hoover Dam. Best for photos in the afternoon, main residents are a good bunch of BAe Jetstreams, some Dornier 328s, a handful of 727s (DHL, etc), a couple of TWA TriStars, and a DC-8 plus other assorted junk. If you’re also going to the Grand Canyon (south rim) you will drive through Kingman and pass only 5 miles or less from the airport/

Next nearest is Victorville, CA. Its maybe three hours drive south west of Vegas on the road to Los Angeles (in fact, its nearer to LA than to LV). Lots of old Delta (TriStar, 727) and United (727 in particular) birds there, plus lots of other more unusual airlines. Its a bit harder to see the airliners fairly close at Victorville, but you can drive around the western perimeter (4×4 may be recommended on part of the track as its rather sandy).

Mojave, CA is about another hour or maybe slightly more driving further beyond Victorville heading away from Vegas (its actually not far off 90 miles north of Los Angeles). Less stuff there nowadays, but some Air Canada (767, DC-9), Aerocalifornia (DC-9) and a few wide bodies (KLM 747, Delta L1011, ex JAL DC-10s) still there. It has been known for tours to be available at Mojave – the fueller, named Javier, MAY do a drive around the air side for $10 per person but its not bookable and wouldbe tourers need to go to the airport office and ask politely – tour will only be possible if Javier has no other duties at the time.

Finally, Pinal Air Park (aka Marana) is just north of Tucson, AZ – maybe five or six hours drive from Vegas, past Phoenix. This is at present by far the busiest and most occupied of the “graveyards”, but nothing much can be seen from the outside of Pinal – if you want to see in you need to hire a Cessna and a pilot in Tucson and fly over it (quite possible for maybe $100-$150).

For all these locations, to get an impression of what’s there probably best to search for the locations on airliners.net

Andy

Not much to see old airliners wise in VCV, but the place is very interesting nonetheless (there’s the firefighting DC-10 + some other firefighting helicopters there, the ramp is full of planes being prepared for future owners, and you might get to see some odd types doing touch and goes during their flight tests if you’re lucky)

In Mojave, there is a junkyard next to the airport that’s very interesting. You have eo ask before stepping on the property, and when I was there, they absolutely forbit taking pictures. But the place is a real godlmine, and you’ll see planes that appeared in movies. Don’t touch anything there, you never know where a scorpion might hide 😉

Last time i was in Vegas there was quite a few old United DC10’s and 747’s parked up on the airport boundary just near the Luxor

There used to be a very good website www.cactuswings.com but its been taken down. Does anyone know if its been re-hosted elsewhere?

IIRC, Cactus Wings turned into a yahoogroups, with files of residents at Kingman, Victorville, Mojave, Pinal/Marana and Roswell (NM) hosted on the yahoogroups site accessible only to members of the group. May have changed again since then though!

Andy

Nearest airliner “graveyard” to Las Vegas is Kingman, AZ. Its about 100 miles south east of Vegas heading off towards Phoenix, but allow a good couple of hours to drive there as the route is over the Hoover Dam. Best for photos in the afternoon, main residents are a good bunch of BAe Jetstreams, some Dornier 328s, a handful of 727s (DHL, etc), a couple of TWA TriStars, and a DC-8 plus other assorted junk. If you’re also going to the Grand Canyon (south rim) you will drive through Kingman and pass only 5 miles or less from the airport/

Next nearest is Victorville, CA. Its maybe three hours drive south west of Vegas on the road to Los Angeles (in fact, its nearer to LA than to LV). Lots of old Delta (TriStar, 727) and United (727 in particular) birds there, plus lots of other more unusual airlines. Its a bit harder to see the airliners fairly close at Victorville, but you can drive around the western perimeter (4×4 may be recommended on part of the track as its rather sandy).

Mojave, CA is about another hour or maybe slightly more driving further beyond Victorville heading away from Vegas (its actually not far off 90 miles north of Los Angeles). Less stuff there nowadays, but some Air Canada (767, DC-9), Aerocalifornia (DC-9) and a few wide bodies (KLM 747, Delta L1011, ex JAL DC-10s) still there. It has been known for tours to be available at Mojave – the fueller, named Javier, MAY do a drive around the air side for $10 per person but its not bookable and wouldbe tourers need to go to the airport office and ask politely – tour will only be possible if Javier has no other duties at the time.

Finally, Pinal Air Park (aka Marana) is just north of Tucson, AZ – maybe five or six hours drive from Vegas, past Phoenix. This is at present by far the busiest and most occupied of the “graveyards”, but nothing much can be seen from the outside of Pinal – if you want to see in you need to hire a Cessna and a pilot in Tucson and fly over it (quite possible for maybe $100-$150).

For all these locations, to get an impression of what’s there probably best to search for the locations on airliners.net

Andy

http://www.cactuswings.com/ is no more. It used to be part of the below site, so this is all we have now of aviation in that area!

http://www.visitingphx.com/index.html

There used to be a very good website www.cactuswings.com but its been taken down. Does anyone know if its been re-hosted elsewhere?

Steve

Hi Ralu,

May I suggest you go over to Wixs and put up the same post their are quit a number of Wixs folks who live in the general area who might be able to help you and might be able to give you a first hand tour.

Enjoy Las Vegas and remember what goes on in Vegas stay in Vegas:eek: :diablo: 😀 :p