The largest aircraft cemetery

The world's largest cemetery is in Arizona, in the state of Tucson in the United States. Its official name is "309 group for maintenance and repair of aerospace equipment." The area of the facility is about 10 km ² . There are more than four thousand airplanes and about forty space vehicles stored at this or that time. Engines, ammunition, wiring, electronics and other equipment, which is a state secret, have been removed from them. The total cost of all equipment located here is estimated at an amount exceeding $ 35 billion.

Aircraft storage conditions

The aircraft cemetery in Arizona is part of the Davis-Monten aviation base, built almost immediately after the end of World War II. It should be noted that the area is located at a considerable height above sea level. In this regard, the climate here is very dry, which makes it possible to save the hulls of aircraft from corrosion even in conditions of storage under the open sky. About eighty percent of them have already been cut to scrap metal. The remaining aircraft are sealed with polyethylene and can be used at any time in case of need.

Importance for the US economy

The Arizona Air Cemetery also functions as a real processing plant. In particular, over the past years, the database specialists have reconstructed about nineteen thousand items and spare parts that can be used later or sold. Their total cost is over 568 million US dollars. According to the policy of the US government, other countries can acquire here not only component parts, but also whole airliners. According to economists, every dollar invested in this aircraft cemetery, in time, allows to return to the state treasury eleven times more. The fact is that after the repair carried out by local specialists, many of them are again used. In particular, based on official statistics, over the past 25 years, about 20% of the liners returned to the system have returned to service. This cemetery is also known for the fact that it was here that some of the scenes from the fantastic movie "Transformers. Revenge of the Fallen. "

Russian Cemetery of Aircraft

A similar place exists in our country. On the Khodynka field, which is not far from Moscow, there is an abandoned airfield. On its territory there are helicopters and airplanes that did not take off since 2003. Currently, access to strangers here is closed. Initially it was planned to open a museum of aviation equipment on this site, but later the project was frozen and in this condition is in our time. Now the cemetery of the aircraft on the Khodynka field represents a huge territory, which is surrounded by barbed wire and protected. Despite this, some still manage to negotiate with the guards for a fee and make here inimitable photos against the backdrop of half-decayed aircraft. Despite the fact that most of them are devoid of paint and glass, they look all the same bewitching.