Mojave, California -
Airplane Graveyard

Airplane Graveyard

The airplane graveyard can be hit or miss in terms of what's in stock when you visit. I've been three times, with varying numbers of planes. There's always something to see, though, so it's well worth a quick detour off the 14. [BR, 10/07/2011]

Airplane Graveyard - Space Ship One

My dad drove my family out the the airplane graveyard because he had to drive up there for his work and it was on our way to Edwards AFB. It was a really cold Sunday morning when my family got to the town and took a joy ride. I saw some really old jets and other planes, including a C-130. Also the air/space port have a little park with a rocket, and Space Ship One on display now. [Felicia Avendano, 11/22/2008]

Airplane Graveyard

I'm in the film industry in Los Angeles and they use this airport for filming a LOT! I've worked on several commercials, movies and TV there, including "Hot Shots" and "Jag." They also launched the first non-NASA manned space flight "SpaceShipOne" from there. [Tony Potter, 04/25/2007]

Airplane Graveyard

This is a storage area for surplus and obsolete airliners. It is also a major site for aircraft modification work, research (Burt Rutan, designer of SpaceShip One, has his facilities here) and test flying for commercial companies. The blue and white jet at the main entrance is an extremely rare Convair 990, a commercial failure from the early 1960's. This is also one of the few places in the US to see Vietnam-era F-4 Phantoms in operation -- they are turned into target drones at the BAE Systems hangar here. Mojave is a good place to see strange and rare aircraft, in addition to its proximity to Edwards AFB, the Air Force's test center with its own population of unusual planes. [Jim Atkins, 05/27/2006]

Airplane Graveyard

I live in Mojave and work on the airport. It is both an aircraft graveyard and long term "flyable" store. The graveyard supplies only parts from aircraft that have exceeded their service life. The "flyable" storage aircraft can be returned to service with the proper maintanance. [Mark Harvey, 04/07/2006]