OF BOMBERS AND BONEYARDS
The notion of air museums preserving selections of full-size aircraft was not common in the 1940s. The Smithsonian Institution and the USAAF made some pioneering efforts to preserve a copy of many warplanes, but in spite of the efforts of proponents, Seattle, Washington, could not see fit to preserve the famous B-17 “5 Grand,� which went to the Kingman smelter instead. Above: Neat rows of jets, like these retired TA-4 Skyhawks, are a hallmark of Davis-Monthan, where the vibe is more outdoor warehousing than ramshackle dumping. (Photo by Ted Carlson/fotodynamics.net)
Walla, Washington; Spokane, Washington, fostered whole civilian scrapyards based on the B-17s, B-24s, P-39s, and other aircraft salvaged there. Hill Field, near Ogden, Utah, had acreage devoted to flyaway storage of B-24s that might be needed again. Once the need passed with V-J Day, those Liberators either migrated to the quintessential boneyard at Kingman, Arizona,
or became scrapped hulks in situ. Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, and Altus, Oklahoma, gained huge temporary fleets of surplus warplanes at the end of hostilities. Kirtland Field in Albuquerque, New Mexico, hosted a field of surplus B-24s, B-17s, and the occasional P-39. Correspondence between U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) leaders acknowledged the deleterious
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