Davis Monthan

Davis Monthan is a large storage facility in the desert right in Tuscon, Arizona. The US military mothballs aircraft there. Here is what we first saw as we approached the field:

Here are a bunch of F4 Phantom II fighter bombers. When I was growing up, I thought that was the coolest aircraft.

In this picture, I was able to pick out C141 transport aircraft (in the middle), B52 Stratofortress Bombers (upper area), what I believe may be KC-135 Tankers (lower left), and F111 Aardvark Fighter/Bombers (lower right).

Lots of B52 bombers, although it looks like there used to be a lot more. I saw a picture in Aviation Week & Space Technology where B52s were being broken up and left in the open so that Russian Satellites could verify that they had been destroyed. I think it might have been at this facility.

More B52s and Phantoms:

Lots of A-10 Warthog tank busters. I think this is such a cool airplane. If you are not familiar, the airplane was designed for close air support. It has two turbofan engines which have low fuel consumption so that it can loiter for a long time. The aircraft is built very rugged to survive groundfire (since it flies low and fairly slow). The pilot is encased in a titanium shield that most people describe as bathtub shaped, and it has a huge gun which fires depleted uranium bullets. The aircraft is so ugly it’s beautiful..