THE SCRAPYARDS

and derelict aircraft on suburban and city streets, had a profound impact on me 40 years ago, which remains to this day.

In October 1982, there were eight aircraft salvage yard locations around the base (this number increased in future years) where former MASDC inmates were parked, often in great numbers, owned by private companies in the business of either storing, restoring or scrapping. Having driven around the northern perimeter fence of the MASDC, visible from public highway, the first of the ‘yards’ one would have seen was that of Southwestern Alloys, located on South Kolb Road, directly across the street from the base perimeter.

All the other yards were located on the west and south sides of the Davis-Monthan AFB complex and, in those days, finding them required some deft map-reading! The now familiar four-lane and paved East Valencia Road, which passes Pima Air and Space Museum, was at that time nothing more than a small dirt road passing a collection of aircraft displayed in a dirt compound. The extension of Kolb Road southbound, which now bisects the storage areas inside the base, was yet to be constructed. Thus, reaching the yards required one to navigate city streets around the northern and western sides of the huge base area and then negotiate numerous small streets through industrial areas on the western side of the base but east of the railroad tracks that headed from Tucson south-eastbound to Benson.

The first yard encountered, in the industrial area west of the base, was Airmet/Kolar and not far away, again via a labyrinth of small streets, was Dross Metals. Both of these businesses were located directly alongside the base perimeter and enjoyed direct access to the base through gates in the perimeter fence.

Having discovered these two yards, I found that the remainder were located directly to the south of the base, mostly alongside the dirt road that was East Old Vail Road, approximately where the current East Valencia Road now runs.

Passing one reached a crossroads with South Wilmot Road, the north-east quadrant of which was Bob’s Airpark, with a fine selection of airframes parked so close to the roadside perimeter the tail-sections of one or two hung over the fence. From these crossroads, taking S. Wilmot Road northbound

This is the northern fence line of Delcon/Consolidated, taken from E. Drexel Road – at one-time the private runway for Allied Aircraft Sales’ business, whose huge, fenced compound was on the right, just out of the picture.

(towards the base) were Western International Aviation and then Delcon/Consolidated, on the right side of the road and, finally, at the road’s end was Allied Aircraft Sales, separated from the others by a dirt track running east-bound, that was East Drexel Road.

The final scrapyard was the most remote, that of Desert Air Parts, located on the south side of the continuation of the dirt track that was East Old Vail road, south-east from the S. Wilmot Road group of yards.

For any serious ‘enthusiast’, the first visit was always tempered with the wish to have gone there years earlier. In my case, the final examples of two iconic USAF types in the MASDC that had left only months before my first visit bear testament to always wanting more, as depicted overleaf with two of Mike Buresell’s terrific photographs!

The surreal sight of C-124C Globemaster 53-0044 poking its nose over the property fence-line on East Tennessee Street. This was the final Globemaster to arrive at the MASDC, on 19th September 1974 and also the only example to ‘escape’. It was sold in June 1976 to Surplus Aircraft Components and moved to their yard, which would later become Kolar/Airmet. Seen here in October 1979, it was repainted in the yard into a civilian scheme in November 1980, allocated registration N3153F and flown to Las Vegas to become a casino attraction.

1. Southwestern Alloys

2. Kolar/Airmet

3. Dross Metals

4. Bob's Air Park

5. Western International Aviation

6. Delcon/ Consolidated (P-2 compound)

7. Delcon/ Consolidated (Main compound)

8. Allied Aircraft Sales

9. Desert Eagle Aviation

10. Desert Air Parts

Over the years, numerous different business names had been associated with various yards and, occasionally, different names registered at the same yard’s address, making the ownership of the premises and aircraft within difficult to ascertain. Similarly, many airframes moved between yards as the aircraft owners, perhaps, sought better storage contracts or required them moving for other reasons.

Southwestern Alloys Corporation was established in 1945 as a division of National Metals & Smelting Co. Up until 1970, like numerous other local salvage companies, Southwestern Alloys conducted their scrapping and recovery business inside Davis-Monthan AFB, however, government clean air legislation introduced later that year brought a stop to on-base smelting. Although the breaking up of airframes did carry on, any furnace operation to recover the metals had to be moved from the base. Faced with this, Southwestern took up residence immediately outside the base perimeter, in premises close to their original operation but now working on the east side of S. Kolb Road.

At the time, Southwestern possessed