I thought it was a mirage the first time I saw it. I was driving through the wastes of the Mojave Desert, two hours from anywhere, when off in the shimmering distance appeared the silhouettes of a hundred parked jetliners. I pulled off and tried to get closer to them, but a mean-looking perimeter fence keeps onlookers far away. All I could do was stand and stare, wondering what the hell this massive armada of airplanes was doing here, silently baking in the 110 degree heat. For years afterward I’d ask people what they knew about it, and I kept hearing the same thing: the place has been on lockdown since 9/11, and they won’t let civilians anywhere near the boneyard. But last week my luck changed — I met a very nice fellow who works there, and with a minimum of cajoling on my part he agreed to take me beyond the high-security fence and show me around. Of course, I brought my camera.
(If you’re interested in getting prints of any of these photos, they’re available here.)
The first thing to know is that the Mojave Air and Spaceport, as it’s officially known, isn’t just a graveyard for inactive planes. It’s an active airport, home to one of the nation’s only civilian test pilot schools, and most famously the place where Space Ship One was developed and performed the first privately-funded human spaceflight in 2004. But it also functions as a giant parking lot for hundreds of jets owned by dozens of different entities, from major airlines to private individuals. If an airline doesn’t anticipate needing some of its planes for an extended period of time, it’s much cheaper for them to park those planes in the desert and have maintenance crews check them out once every few weeks than to keep them active.
Some planes have been there only a few months — some have been there for years and years, owned by companies that rent space at the boneyard by the acre.
The most fascinating part of the facility, to me at least, is the boneyard itself. This is where planes that are no longer valuable enough to be repaired and put back into service — totaled, as it were — are cannibalized for spare parts. It’s not a delicate operation: the planes are ripped apart by big machines, torn into piles of fuselage that look, standing amidst them, like the aftermath of terrible crashes.
Other owners dismantle their planes piece by delicate piece, leaving most of the jet intact save some crucial part:
Inside some planes, you’d hardly know they weren’t simply waiting for the next planeload of passengers to take their seats.
Whole sections of a plane might be removed, but otherwise be intact. They sit like donor organs waiting for a transplant candidate.
Decapitated planes abound:
Further inspection revealed that the insides of these “plane heads” are often empty, stripped of their valuable avionics.
Some of the worthless bits become part of the landscape.
Aisle or window?
This tail section is held up by a hand-stacked pile of railroad ties.
I hope I never fly on a plane equipped with landing gear salvaged from the boneyard. But I suppose I would never know.
Inside an old cargo hold (I think) —
Scrapper graffiti.
Salvaged inflatable emergency slides, ready to be shipped off to new homes.
A jet engine without a jet.
Air Canada planes giving the grass a shady place to grow.
Elsewhere at the Air and Space Port, a glimpse of a few of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space planes. I believe that’s the White Knight Two, designed to ferry Space Ship Two into suborbital space. The juxtaposition of the deeply broken and the cutting edge at Mojave is jarring.
Comments (48)
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Ransom, Every time I read one of your posts, I’m amazed by the photography. What filters/editing software are you using?
posted by Stephen on 8-31-2009 at 12:17 am
I think there was an episode of “Mythbusters” that had them going out here to get stuff they needed for an experiment.
posted by Seanette on 8-31-2009 at 3:52 am
Good post. Even better is the Google Earth view of this boneyard. It’s HU-U-U-GE!!!
posted by Bubba on 8-31-2009 at 9:53 am
This has to be one of the most fascinating places in America for its sheer size and purpose. Incredible photos.
posted by Matt on 8-31-2009 at 10:27 am
These are great photos! Nice story too.
posted by Jen on 8-31-2009 at 10:33 am
Absolutely fascinating and the photography is amazing. How lucky you were to get to tour this area!
posted by Fran on 8-31-2009 at 1:21 pm
Apparently Adobe Photoshop CS Macintosh. This is the image information from the Opera web browser:
Orientation of image: 1
File change date and time: 2009:08:28 11:45:13
Image input equipment manufacturer: Canon
Image input equipment model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS Macintosh
Exposure time: 0.003125
F number: 9
Exposure program: 2
ISO speed rating: 100
Shutter speed: 8.375
Aperture: 6.375
Exposure bias: -0.666667
Metering mode: 5
Flash: 16
Lens focal length: 24
Focal plane X resolution: 3849.21
Focal plane Y resolution: 3908.14
Focal plane resolution unit: 2
posted by dan1101 on 8-31-2009 at 1:42 pm
Hi guys — thanks!
@ Dan and Stephen –
Yep, I use Photoshop on some photos to tweak contrast and exposure, but Aperture is my main program. A few of these (with especially crazy-looking skies) are HDR photos — 3 or more exposures combined. And a good camera and lens help — the canon 5d mark II w/ the 24-70 L glass zoom.
posted by Ransom Riggs on 8-31-2009 at 2:02 pm
I grew up passing by this graveyard all the time, it was right behind my high school and I never really thought twice about it. Great photos.
posted by V on 8-31-2009 at 2:28 pm
This wasn’t the airport and boneyard used in the movie “Con Air” was it?
posted by Mike on 8-31-2009 at 3:16 pm
Amazing photography work. I think the second pic is my favorite. Thanks for sharing!
posted by Hastings on 8-31-2009 at 3:48 pm
Great post! I love the Strange Geographies posts! Check out the Aircraft Boneyard in Tucson, Az. It is at the Davis Monthan AFB. It is ginormous.
posted by Stacy on 8-31-2009 at 4:02 pm
Great article and photos! Thanks!
posted by Steve from San Diego on 8-31-2009 at 6:37 pm
Firefox with an adblock extension. I had no idea there were even ads on this page.
Great pictures. I’ve flown over it many times and it’s pretty surreal.
posted by TimCthefilmguy on 8-31-2009 at 6:49 pm
I used to fly into Lagos, Nigeria, from time to time. The sides of the runway were littered with cannibalized fuselages. Airlines generally avoided keeping a plane there overnight.
posted by JoeLeTaxi on 8-31-2009 at 7:05 pm
Strange Geographies is one of my favorite features.
posted by Rachel on 8-31-2009 at 8:10 pm
I grew up in a small town not far from the Majoave Airport and reseach center you are talking about. I have been there many times, parking on the side of highway 58 to watch many experimental planes taking test flights by Dick Rutan and people like him. There is allot that goes on there that people know nothing about and it is fascinatiing. I always wanted to get a closer look at these planes and now you’ve given me the chance. Thank you for the terrific pictures!
posted by Terry on 8-31-2009 at 9:52 pm
Stacy is right about Tucson. It looks very much like the one pictured above and contains not only old commercial aircraft, but mainly military aircraft. Most of the late model aircraft are said to be operational within 24 hours in an emergency. All I know is that there is enough firepower in Tucson alone to wipe out most nations’ militaries.
posted by Mart on 8-31-2009 at 10:25 pm
Some of these have a quality to them that is reminiscent of something out of the futuristic landscape of the Terminator movies – like “fuselage” and IMG_3333.
posted by Ian on 9-1-2009 at 12:30 am
How do you get to walk around the boneyard? The website indicates that one cannot even leave the fueler vehicle tour.
posted by Spencer on 9-2-2009 at 12:50 am
Ransom, you did some great pictures of the graveyards, I was there just a few days before you (08/23/2009) I did the tour of the airport in a little minibus we did not use the fueltruck but it was the feul truck driver (real nice guy ) who was driving, including the boneyards but I could take pictures everywhere EXCEPT in the boneyards area.
You were quite luky to be able to do it!
posted by cooldude on 9-24-2009 at 6:20 am
In the picture third from the last, the airplanes look like cattle grazing the field.
This is an excellent series!
posted by ds on 10-5-2009 at 3:34 pm
This place has been immortalised in Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas…..though the boneyard’s rather immortal itself, no?
posted by Bakedpotatoes on 11-4-2009 at 2:43 pm
I wonder, do movies and TV shows get plane parts from this place? I just keep thinking about “Lost” whenever I look at the photos.
posted by Emilee on 3-11-2010 at 10:41 am
Man, you just find the best photographing locations, dontcha? Seriously, I’d be goin’ nuts in one of those places w/ my Canon. :D
Beautiful shots! The fact that most of the airplanes (not to mention their insides) are white- bone-white, as it were, to complete its comparison to an animal graveyard.
posted by Araxie on 7-2-2010 at 2:20 am
What an awesome find!
I travel Hwy 395 on a regular basis, and have ALWAYS wondered about the graveyard. Thank you for the story and the fantastic camera work.
posted by Megan H on 8-25-2010 at 11:49 am
Excellent photostory. I am a long retired 747 captain, and as I approach the end of my usefullness, I have been
trying to decide on cremation or burial.
You have inspired me to think it would be appropriate to donate myself to a medical school to be chopped up into
useful pieces. Thanks for solving my dilemma.
posted by BROKEN WING on 8-27-2010 at 7:15 am
Crazy that you got pictures of this place but I saw that earlier someone posted about “Lost.” Well, being the Lostie fanatic that I am, I do know the producers Carlton Cuse, JJ Abrams, and Damon Lindelof got the parts for their airplanes here. They got whole planes and took them apart but also got the seats and shrapnel and other parts from this place also. Just thought you should know. Yes, Lost used this place for all their airplane needs.
posted by Kelsey on 10-2-2010 at 11:11 pm
Have any Cessna Cockpits? Are there any for sale?
posted by Dustin Ringdahl on 10-10-2010 at 11:45 pm
Love this story and photos. Are these images still available for print? The link no longer works.
posted by G.D. on 10-27-2010 at 8:45 am
the airplane graveyard looks like it’s from Con Air.
posted by MillerTime on 11-9-2010 at 3:31 pm
Is that also the airplane graveyard used in “Can’t Buy Me Love”?
posted by David on 1-12-2011 at 2:51 pm
Reminds me of the haunting airplane graveyard scene (in reality, not a movie set) in the Academy Award-winning movie, “The Best Years of Our Lives,” in 1946. See the movie. It’s one of the best films ever made – bar none.
posted by Natalie Benedict on 1-12-2011 at 8:45 pm
It was great to find your photos and info. I’m retired and living in thePhilippines now. But as a kid on outings with my parents I use to see the aircraft graveyard from afar and always wanted to know more. Thanks for giving light to something I’ve wondered about all my life.
Gene Davis
Magalang, Pampanga
Philippines
posted by Gene Davis on 1-19-2011 at 12:20 pm
I’ve worked on the aircraft for the last 12yrs and it’s sad to see them like that but you have captured some great shots and a fab article too :-)
Claire
England
posted by Claire Ford on 1-22-2011 at 2:55 pm
Cool photos…thanks for sharing
posted by Dan on 3-17-2011 at 12:53 pm
Neat story Ransom!Amazing photography, too! My brother repairs palnes for a living, and I get the oppurtunity to go inside them and check them out from time to time. There’s something so cool about being inside an abandoned plane. It’s almost romantic, in a lonely desolate sort of way…
posted by kim on 4-21-2011 at 1:25 pm
Great article man! Anybody know if you can buy parts from this graveyard or any other graveyards?
posted by Matt Sellwood on 5-30-2011 at 8:42 am
Great pics and story.
Is there anyone out there who has photos of the old WWII bombers at what is now Ontario CA airport? I remember once riding by there in the early fifties. Above the fence loomed the tails of aircraft that appeared to have taken terrible punishment in combat. Several days earlier I had seen one of the war chronicle programs on TV that had said what tough plans the B17′s were. When I think about it now I am still in awe of these amazing aircraft.
posted by RRK on 7-1-2011 at 3:15 pm
I actually flew on planes salvaged from the Boneyard. The Coast Guard had a crisis back in the 1970′s when their HU-16E aircraft had to be retired. They needed an interim aircraft to fly until they could procure a replacement so they got some old Air Force C-131′s out of the desert, overhauled them and pressed them into service. The C-131′s did the job but it was a little dicey. There were a couple close calls but, by and large, nothing too serious went wrong. The Coast Guard eventually bought new aircraft and (thankfully) retired the C-131′s again.
posted by Fred Fairchild on 7-2-2011 at 7:15 am
I wonder if some of these gutted fuselages could be transported away and turned into interesting or low-income housing?
posted by blatanville on 8-16-2011 at 4:34 pm
Fascinating! How can you work these into one of your short stories? They provide food for creative thought:) Thanks!
posted by Liz Madara on 8-20-2011 at 12:54 pm
@Natalie Benedict
That scene from the movie ‘The Best years of Our Lives’ was probably filmed at Kingman Arizona where thousands of B-17s and B-24s where cut up for scrap after WWII. I always thought they were turned into those trays the first TV dinners came in and the aluminum tumblers they sold in the fifties. Gads those tumblers were bad.
posted by Marcus HIll on 8-29-2011 at 3:18 pm
I was just wondering if you noticed the blankets of chemtrails in the sky in these pics. They certainly help make more dramatic photos, but do you realize what they are? Nevertheless, it was a very interesting article, thanks.
posted by Stacy on 9-1-2011 at 10:42 am
These pics are good. Years back I saw a number of same in Az. At that time you could walk all around the scrap yard and look to your hearts content. There were several hobby type groups building smaller planes in buildings on the yard.
It was truly amazing to see what looked like completely whole planes with white plastic over the windows and engine covers in place. These were located in places that did not look like they could easily be removed. Must have been totally forgotten about.
I remember walking around and looking at some old prop engines with metal labels stating they were turbo intercooled type engines. A type of engine introduced many years later in the automotive world.
posted by jv01 on 9-1-2011 at 6:11 pm
Somehow the thought of being surrounded by plane carcasses is unsetteling, perhaps this because I have several family members working in avionics. Neat article though, great quality photos.
posted by Thatoneguy on 10-18-2011 at 3:14 pm
Did they happen to mention how one would go about purchasing a part of an airplane or how much? When I saw the photo you took of the interior of that plane (that looked as if it was waiting for the passengers to board),I remembered seeing something about some guy that used the body of a plane to make their house out of. Or maybe it was an office, or a bar/resteraunt or something similar… It would even make a great storage contaniner if it could be acquired cheap enough. If you know how to get in touch with the folks that sell the parts, please let me know. Thanks
posted by meddjay on 12-10-2011 at 2:40 pm
Retired out of GE West Cost Operations at the Ontario Int. Airport..Worked there for GE for 28 Years as a Mechanic/Inspector on there Engines…Numerous Outside Job’s around the world..GE has a excellent product and good Employees..Sad to say even the Old Employees end up in some sort of Bone Yard..(:
posted by Jerry George on 2-1-2012 at 4:05 pm