airplane junk

February 6, 2006 1:46 PM

Is there an airplane cemetery?

Planes crash and die or are taken out of service but where do they end up and more importantly how can I buy the tail section of a large airplane. I've tried ebay and any local options I can think of.

posted by apdato to work & money (18 comments total)

US Military "Boneyard"
posted by Pollomacho at 1:49 PM on February 6, 2006

I think there are a number of large airplane graveyards around. It would probably help if future answerers knew generally where you are.
posted by selfnoise at 1:50 PM on February 6, 2006

yes there are.
posted by b1tr0t at 1:50 PM on February 6, 2006

Honestly now, did you even try Googling for appropriate terms?

One interesting resource is Telstar's Flickr sets of aircraft graveyards.
posted by Tubes at 1:52 PM on February 6, 2006

Sorry, that link got cut off in editing.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 1:54 PM on February 6, 2006

thanks. i'm between milwaukee and chicago. I didn't think of searching for graveyard.
posted by apdato at 1:59 PM on February 6, 2006

I'm not finding any for sale though.
posted by apdato at 2:01 PM on February 6, 2006

apdato writes "I'm not finding any for sale though."

Most of these places will sell fusalage by the pound at scrap rates. You might need a business to make the transaction.
posted by Mitheral at 2:09 PM on February 6, 2006

Sorry, that link got cut off in editing.
posted by DrJohnEvans

Try zooming a lot more and then go WOW!
posted by JJ86 at 2:12 PM on February 6, 2006

You could bid on this one in New Mexico.
Or you could post a "Wanted" ad here.
Dodson may be able to help.
Or you could try Trade-A-Plane.
posted by Floydd at 2:19 PM on February 6, 2006

Off the top of my head, another that hasn't been mentioned is Monino in Russia.
posted by killdevil at 2:22 PM on February 6, 2006

As an aside, I have visited Davis Monthan outside of Tucson and it is breathtaking, even through the chain-link fences (they stopped giving tours in the 1990s, I believe). So many billions of dollars of hardware just sitting there baking in the sun...

To see lots more pictures of all of these places, do an advanced photo search for Davis Monthan, Monino or Mojave at the ultimate plane nerd Web site.
posted by killdevil at 2:26 PM on February 6, 2006

This company makes furniture out of old aircraft parts and had a reality TV show a year or two back. A few episodes involved them deconstructing various aircraft parts at above mentioned graveyards. The TV show was 'Wingnuts' but it appears to be off the air.
posted by vaportrail at 2:31 PM on February 6, 2006

Note also that the previously mentioned Davis Monthan airplane graveyard/boneyard served as the filming location for a scene in the 1987 film Can't Buy Me Love...

An odd fact that I managed to recall only because Amanda Peterson was probably my first unattainable crush as a young teenager.
posted by The Confessor at 3:46 PM on February 6, 2006

On TV, the Mythbusters often test out myths that involve using parts of airplanes. They go to some salvage place near San Francisco to buy sections of planes.

So, these places do exist. I'm just not sure if they exist near you.
posted by Futurehouse at 4:30 PM on February 6, 2006

Adam Savage (Mythbuster) is a MeFite and can be reached here.
posted by tcobretti at 5:27 PM on February 6, 2006

I have to ask - why do you want a tail section?

Sculpture? Architecture? Filming a spoof of Lost?
posted by -harlequin- at 7:59 PM on February 6, 2006

From the Boneyard link above: How to Do Business with the AMARC
posted by jalexei at 8:00 AM on February 7, 2006