SOUTHWESTERN ALLOYS

the only civilian-operated guillotine large enough to handle entire airframes and had the only operating smelter near the base. As a result, the yard became very busy with the disposal of huge numbers of post-war aircraft and was later responsible for the ultimate demise of almost all of the B-36s, B-66s and B-58s stored in the MASDC, together with huge numbers of C-121s, C-124s, Convair T-29 and C-131s and Navy F-9 Cougars.

Southwestern’s business became a mix of chopping, smelting, aircraft dismantling, parts removal and parts shipping. As with all companies, bids for aircraft were usually done via the US Government’s General Services Administration (GSA), once all airframe and engine parts reclamation by the military had been completed.

At this point, airframes were turned over to the Defense Property Disposal Service (DPDS), who had a regional disposal office (DPDO) based at Davis-Monthan, which administered the auction sales.

Southwestern’s bids were made to suit their capabilities, given they had the only furnace for many years, hence the yard’s appetite for scrap metal rather than restoration. Like many of the salvage companies, bids placed on aircraft at auction were based on expected parts resale value or what the scrap metal was worth. Ancillary components, such as wiring, were sold to companies who would strip and recover copper and precious metals used in the wire and connector pins.

In October 1982 the yard contained no fewer than 28 various Convair T-29 variants, one C-131B, one C-121J, two C-119Fs, eight HUP-2 Retriever helicopters, one UH-34, two T-2B Buckeyes and the dismantled remains of 26 F-8 Crusaders, two F-100Fs and the nose section of a B-52F. Quite a cache for the first yard visited! e Southwestern Alloys front gate sign was a familiar sight to many motorists and its proximity to the Davis-Monthan perimeter, accessible by road, also made it the rst of the scrapyards seen by any visitor in search of old aircraft during the early 1980s.

During 1986, Southwestern Alloys Corporation was renamed National Aircraft Inc. and at the same time acquired property alongside the existing Dross Metals (DMI) premises on E. Nebraska Street, on the south-western side of Davis-Monthan.

Southwestern Alloys’ very prominent location, on the side of South Kolb Road, directly opposite the base perimeter fence of Davis-Monthan made the acceptance of airframes very straightforward, with corresponding gates on the base perimeter fence directly opposite Southwestern’s entrance.

In the yard in October 1982 were a pair of ex-US Marine Corps C-119Fs, BuNo’s 131691 and 131706, retired from service with Marine Air Transport Squadron 234 (VMR-234). When the squadron transitioned from the C-119F to the

KC-130F in 1975, to become Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 234 (VMGR-234) its fleet of 12 C-119Fs were flown to Davis-Monthan as each was replaced by the new KC-130Fs over a period of two years. C-119F 131691 was accepted into the MASDC on 25th April 1975 and ’706 flew into DavisMonthan from Glenview NAS on 6th June 1975, the second to last C-119 to be retired from the unit and the US military as a whole. The majority of

VMR-234’s C-119s were acquired by either Dross Metals (DMI) or Kolar/ Airmet, but airframes 131691 and 131706 were obtained by Southwestern on 25th June 1980 and moved to the yard soon afterwards.