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WTF Fun Fact 12921 – The Airplane “Boneyard” in Tucson

If you like airplanes (or are just mystified by the thought of seeing thousands of them), The Boneyard in Tucson, AZ – known more formally as the 309th AMARG Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base – may be just the place for you.

What is Tucson’s airplane “graveyard”?

According to Arizona Journey, a site for Tucson tourists (cited below): “AMARG is the world’s largest salvage yard, minus the snarling dogs. The aircraft are lined up in rows set up with military precision, stacked so closely together that from above their wings look like they are holding hands with each other, a sharp contrast to their former roles. It’s a starkly beautiful setting as, throughout the day, the silver fuselages reflect changing colors of the Rincon Mountains to the east.”

Since the planes are no longer fully operational, they’re just in permanent outdoor storage in the middle of the desert. The Sonoran Desert is apparently as good a place as any to place what is largely a giant airplane junkyard for defunct military aircraft since the dry air prevents rust.

Why prevent rust on planes that no one technically needs anymore? Well, some can be resurrected and others used for spare parts. In fact: “Despite its moniker, the Boneyard is not a place merely to stockpile airplanes in eternal rest. Some have been mothballed for spare parts and potential future activation. In 2015 a B-52 bomber old enough to qualify for AARP membership was restored and returned to flying condition. Though the Cold War may have ended, the men and women deployed at the Boneyard in Tucson are on constant alert for any future chills in relations between the superpowers.”

Visiting Tucson’s airplane Boneyard

Despite its location on a military base, you can visit the airplane Boneyard in Tucson while touring the adjacent Pima Air & Space Museum.

But security is tight, so don’t expect to climb all over them. You can only catch a glimpse of F-14 fighter planes, for example, since they’re still flown by the Iranian Air Force “which is desperate for spare parts to maintain their fleet.”

Visitors can take a Tram Tour for $8 or Private Walking Tours for $75. — WTF fun facts

Source: “A fun visit to the massive Tucson airplane graveyard AKA “The Boneyard” (over 3000 planes)” — Arizona Journey

WTF Fun Fact 12555 – The London Bridge of Arizona

London Bridge is falling down
Falling down, falling down
London Bridge is falling down
My fair lady

Did you sing this song as a kid? We sure did, although we had no idea just how many more verses it had – there are lines about building it up with iron bars as well as gold and silver, but in the end, the bridge was simply taken down and replaced.

Originally built in the 1830s, it spanned the River Thames in London, England. But by 1968, it was up for sale. We can’t really relate to the desire to buy an old bridge that’s falling down, but apparently, millionaires can. American entrepreneur and chainsaw manufacturer Robert P. McCulloch (who also inherited a fortune from his grandfather) decided to buy the bridge to serve as a tourist attraction in the new community he was planning in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He paid $2.5 million (but there wasn’t exactly a bidding war over it).

And what millionaires want, they tend to get. He bought the bridge, had it dismantled, and transported it to Arizona on a cargo ship. After sailing through the Panama Canal, it landed in Long Beach, California, and was trucked to Lake Havasu City. There, it was reassembled and opened in October 1971.

But you don’t have to worry about using a crumbling old bridge if you visit it. The masonry from the old bridge simply forms the outer structure of the new “London Bridge,” which includes reinforced concrete. It now connects an island in the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City.

Now, when we say it connects an island, we don’t mean that a bridge was needed there. In fact, a canal was dug to create the island after the bridge was built. But it had the intended effect. Interest in buying land in the area increased, and it did indeed become a tourist destination (and it still is to this day). –  WTF fun fact

Source: “Arizona’s London Bridge: A Brief History” — Arizona Highways

WTF Fun Fact – Official State Firearms

WTF Fun Fact - Official State Firearms

Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia all have official state firearms ranging from a single action revolver to a semi-automatic sniper rifle. – WTF Fun Facts

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_firearms

in 1924 there was a law made in arizona making it

In 1924

In 1924, there was a law made in Arizona making it illegal for donkeys to sleep in bathtubs.
– WTF Fun Fact

Apparently there was a donkey that floated away in a flood when a dam gave out and the town spent a great deal of money rescuing the donkey.  They passed the law shortly thereafter to prevent it from happening again!