Main Russian aircraft cemeteries. The largest airplane cemetery Airplanes on the Khodynka field

Nothing on earth lasts forever. And, of course, this applies to aviation technology. “Airplane cemeteries” are the name given to places where obsolete aviation equipment is located. In Russia, such “cemeteries” are located mainly in Moscow and the Moscow region.

The most popular are Khodynskoye Field, Domodedovo Airport and the Museum of the Air Force Russian Federation in the village of Monino, Moscow region, as well as the largest museum in Ulyanovsk, in the Middle Volga region.

Photos of these attractions filled the Internet. And despite the fact that these photos cause a slight sadness, they also make you want to look at these planes with your own eyes and visit a little bit of the past.

Khodynskoe field

The first such “aircraft cemetery” in Russia was Khodynskoe Field. It is located in the north-west of Moscow, near the Airport metro station. At the beginning of the last century, an airfield was built there, which later received the name Central Airfield. Frunze. It was Khodynskoye Field that witnessed the first international flights in Russia. The airfield on Khodynskoye Field existed from 1910 to 2003. After the closure, it was decided to open an aviation museum there, but these plans were not destined to come true.

To date, some of the exhibits have been cut into scrap metal, and those that are better preserved are now displayed in the Vadim Zadorozhny Museum of Technology. After the closure of the airfield, the Khodynskoye field began to quickly be built up, and the fact that there was once an airfield on Khodynskoye is reminiscent of that same “aircraft cemetery” where forgotten planes and helicopters rot. In 2008, not far from the field, the reconstruction of the Aviators Park was completed, in which monuments were erected to the pilots who died on the Khodynskoye field in various historical battles.

Memory Corner in Domodedovo

Domodedovo Airport, located in the Moscow region, also boasts disused equipment. Departing planes sat right on the field, opposite the Domodedovo terminal, awaiting their fate. Passengers can clearly see them during takeoffs. They are also clearly visible from the Domodedovo terminal itself.

Mostly Domodedovo Airlines planes are parked there, but there are also imported aircraft. Many of them have already donated parts to their newer brothers. No one knows about their future fate yet; maybe they will go to waste, or maybe they will remain a delight to the eyes of guests of Moscow and the Moscow region. In the meantime, everyone can come to Domodedovo at any time and take a photo against the backdrop of the “air giants”, taking a camera with them, or maybe even sit at the controls of a real plane.

Aviation Museum in the village of Monino

Not far from the capital, in the village of Monino, Moscow Region, is located the Museum of the Air Force of the Russian Federation, which several years ago received the status of a federal state cultural institution. It would be hard to call this place a cemetery.

Once upon a time there was one of the first airfields in the country, but when technology stepped far forward, the conditions at the airfield no longer met the standards. And gradually the airfield in the Moscow region began to turn into an aviation museum.

The museum houses a huge collection of domestic aircraft. There are also photographic materials and documents confirming the authenticity of the collection. It is probably difficult to find a place in Russia where such a number of different aircraft could be assembled. By studying the exhibits on display, you can trace the history of the development of domestic aircraft. Models of military and civil aircraft, helicopters, and gliders from the last hundred years are collected here. The museum has existed since 1958 and has hosted more than 3 million people from almost all over the world.

The largest “plane graveyard” in Russia

About 9,000 exhibits are located under open air in the city of Ulyanovsk. Most of these aircraft flew under their own power to Ulyanovsk to remain here forever, and one very heroic exhibit, TB-1, was brought in parts and assembled on the spot. These military and civil aircraft– all that remains from a bygone era. It is believed that the planes that ended up in this museum were very lucky.

Photo: alexio-marziano.livejournal.com

The museum is still young; it opened in 1983. The best time of year to visit is summer or late spring. During this period, the most colorful and lively photos are obtained. Museum employees, as well as aviation school cadets civil aviation, which owns the museum, are trying their best to maintain the beauty and mystery of their exhibits.

The Arizona desert holds a lot of interesting things. For example, five thousand abandoned airplanes parked neatly and in a row among sand and cacti.

This is the world's largest cemetery for old aircraft. Shall we take a walk?

1. Although the planes are abandoned and have not flown for a long time, they are located on the territory of the US Air Force base "Davis-Monthan" in the Arizona city of Tucson. All planes are fenced off and it is almost impossible to get inside.

2. America is not Russia, there are no leaky fences here, but if you try to drive around the perimeter of the territory, there is a chance to find what you are looking for.

3. Only military aircraft rot and live out their lives here. Starting from the Second World War, all decommissioned but not collapsed aircraft were brought here, to the desert, to the Air Force base. So it has accumulated.

4. The base itself was founded in 1925, and received its name in honor of two military pilots of the First World War - Samuel Davis and Oscar Monten.

5. The base was expanded by 1940, when another one was already raging in Europe World War. At this base they began to train crews for bombers. After the end of the war, in 1945, the training base was closed and it was decided to use the place as a cemetery for now unnecessary combat aircraft. The local dry climate and hard soil provide ideal safety for aircraft over a long period of time.

6. But soon the training center had to be formed again. The Cold War began and the military had to declare constant combat readiness, which lasted almost forty years.

7. Combat units of strategic aviation and a special group of technicians settled here, ready to reactivate old aircraft.

8. Since the early fifties, two Boeing B-29 Superfortress air groups were based here, and from the sixty-third - Lookheed U-2 spy planes. Also somewhere in the vicinity there were 18 missile silos located.

9. The Cold War is over and constant combat readiness for so many aircraft has again become unnecessary. The planes were getting old and rusting. they didn't have enough

10. Some of them thought of repainting, re-equipping and using them for the needs of civil aviation, but it never worked out.

11. When the Internet appeared, the base became widely known outside of Arizona and America. Russian aviation enthusiasts also got to Google's images, declassifying many interesting aircraft models that no one had even heard of before.

12. Although all these thousands and thousands of planes standing in the middle of the desert form a cemetery, they cannot be called completely abandoned. The Americans managed to make a profitable business out of this.

13. The Davis-Monthan base is occupied by the 309th group of the US Department of Defense, which employs approximately five thousand people engaged in aircraft repair.

14. Every year about 400 new units of equipment appear at the base. To prevent the cemetery from expanding into half the state, approximately the same number of aircraft are sold to friendly but poor countries or destroyed.

15. Under the Strategic Arms Reduction Agreement (START), signed between the United States and Russia, 365 Boeing B-2 Stratofortress bombers were destroyed here.

16. Each aircraft entering storage at the Davis-Monthan base undergoes a thorough inspection, weapons and sensitive equipment are removed from it, and the fuel systems are drained and pumped with oil.

17. The entire fleet of equipment can be divided into four groups: long-term and short-term conservation (potentially combat-ready equipment), donor aircraft and equipment for sale. Non-flying military equipment sometimes falls into the latter category. For example, last year we brought here unused, but decommissioned military Hummers due to age.

18. The base management decided to sell them via the Internet, but only a few units were purchased - these cars are not suitable for civilian life and die in captivity: fuel consumption is very high, the interior is uncomfortable, manual transmission. For some reason I remembered with what frenzy my compatriots rush at decommissioned military UAZs and BRDMs. Although it’s not surprising, there are almost no shitholes in America where a more or less decent SUV from a car dealership won’t pass.

19. But America knows how to do business: for every dollar spent on maintaining an airplane cemetery and aircraft repair team, the air base earns 11.

20.

21.

22.

In 2011, one of the oldest airports in Moscow, Bykovo, built in 1933, closed. Having looked at the airport area from satellite maps, I noticed a group of planes to the side of the runway. Now all that remains is to come there and see everything with your own eyes.

Having collected all the traffic jams that existed on the road to Bykovo, we reached the place just a couple of hours before dark. The weather was also unlucky, it rained constantly. But as I expected, getting to the planes turned out to be elementary.

Older than the Bykovo airport was only the Central Airfield named after. M. V. Frunze, built in 1910 on the Khodynskoye field, which also ceased to exist in this century.

The first plane ended up exactly in the place where the coordinates were shown on the satellite map. True, there were two of them in the picture, but in reality there was only one left:

But a group of three aircraft, which was supposed to be a kilometer away from this side, moved closer and acquired another aircraft. So the number of abandoned aircraft is satellite map and in fact it coincided.

The first, no longer an aircraft, on our way was the IL-76TD:

This aircraft was produced in December 1982 for the USSR Air Force. As a military transport aircraft, this aircraft flew for 10 years.

After the collapse of the USSR, the plane remained in Ukraine, where in 1993 it was sent for storage. After standing for two years, the aircraft began to be used again, first for one year in Ukraine, and then after conversion to the Il-76TD, it began to be used in Russia.

In Russia, this aircraft was operated by Aviast airline, which after seven years of flights left it for storage at Bykovo airport. The plane has not flown since then, but was able to survive its airline, which was closed in 2008.

It's time to climb inside the plane. The door was not locked, and we, like decent people, went through it:

The interior is a mess, but that doesn't stop one from appreciating the considerable size of the cargo compartment. Its length including the ramp is 24.5 meters:

Maximum payload of this aircraft was 50 tons and he could transport this cargo 3,650 km. Well, let's take another look at the cargo part and move into the cabin.

There is little left of the cabin anymore. All equipment and even the floor were dismantled. Only the navigator's seat is in its place:

This aircraft is flown by a crew of 7 people, so there used to be quite a lot of equipment here. In the technical compartment next to the cabin there is an emergency operating hatch that leads outside. Having climbed through the hatch, you can run around the plane from above:

As it turned out later, a few days after our visit, this IL-76TD was broken up and taken away.

Let's move on to a group of four aircraft. All of them were manufactured by the Yakovlev Design Bureau. The Yak-42D is a short-haul passenger aircraft that first saw the sky 26 years ago. This aircraft replaced the Yak-42 and corrected a number of its obvious inconveniences. By the way, this aircraft was produced in the same year when the Yak-42D made its first flight.

Just 5 years ago, this plane flew regularly, and then the Elbrus-Avia airline sent it for storage in 2008. A year later, the airline went under due to debt and the plane was seized. According to the Internet, this Yak-42D is put up for sale. So if someone wants to buy this plane for themselves, then let them prepare 33,759,000 rubles.

Of the 120 economy class seats, only three remain.

Rear entrance ramp:

Cabin. Two people were enough to control the Yak-42D:

True, this plane is unlikely to fly; most likely it will suffer the same fate as its neighbor, the IL-76TD.

Another Yak-42D from Elbrus-Avia. The engines have already been removed from it, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes under the knife too:

This aircraft was released two years later than the previous one, in 1989.

Unfortunately, the cabin is also already pretty damaged:

Let's look at the plane one more time from the outside and go to the next one.

Another Yak-42D. There are no engines on it either. This plane managed to fly a little longer than its neighbors. He arrived in Bykovo in 2009 for maintenance, where he was arrested and sent here.

The rear entrance ladder was lowered, which made it easier to get inside:

This plane was sorely missing a floor:

Let's move on to the next aircraft, in my opinion it is the most interesting - the Yak-40K short-haul passenger aircraft:

Of all the planes we were on this evening, this is the best preserved cockpit:

It's funny that all these planes outlived their airlines, which closed at the end of the 2000s.

Every plane someday lands and then fails to take off. The age of winged machines is relatively short, and their end is all the sadder: created to fly, they, even dilapidated, yearn for the sky. IT.TUT.BY has selected seven of the most interesting aircraft graveyards.

Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Almost 30 years ago, life left this city. Abandoned houses and empty hospitals indicate that civilization, alas, is not omnipotent. Most of The equipment used to eliminate the disaster itself became a source of radiation and was left here. These helicopters will never fly again, and their remains contain deadly radiation.

Khodynka, Frunze Central Airfield, Moscow.

Built over 100 years ago, this airfield is now abandoned. The last aircraft, the anti-submarine Il-28SD for the Indian Navy, took off from this airfield on July 3, 2003, after which the facility was closed. Decommissioned planes and helicopters remained on the remains of the runway. Initially, it was planned to organize the “Aviation Museum on Khodynskoye Field,” but something did not work out, and the unguarded exhibition eventually turned into an aircraft cemetery.

California aviation warehouse

Why this particular place? It's simple: dilapidated planes located here are often used as sets for filming various films and TV series. This place has become a cult not only for aviation enthusiasts, who are allowed into the territory for a reasonable fee, but also for film buffs.

Davis-Monthan Air Base, the world's most expensive aircraft graveyard

The world's most expensive aircraft cemetery is located in Arizona, its area reaches 6,500 hectares. 40 are decaying here spacecraft and more than 4,000 military and civilian aircraft. However, not all aircraft are permanently parked here; there are also those who stayed for a while: the aircraft cemetery is still used as a free parking lot. According to experts, the total price of all objects located here is about $35 billion. The film "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was filmed here.

Aircraft Graveyard in the Mojave Desert

One of the largest collections of aircraft scrap metal is located southeast of the intersection of US Highways 14 and 58, in the Mojave Desert region. Most of the planes here are in poor condition: they have no engines, no wings, most just look like piles of twisted metal.

Pinal Airpark Airport, Marana, Arizona, USA

The main reason for the existence of this place is to store abandoned commercial airliners. As they say local residents, if Boeing retired, this is where it would end up. About 840 hectares of area are allocated for parking.

Private collection of Walter Soplat

American Walter Soplata bought about 50 engines and 30 aircraft from World War II during his life. After his death in 2010, his relatives decided to keep the expensive collection a secret so that it would not be looted. About an unusual abandoned aviation museum located in the woods near the town of Newbury, Ohio, it became known relatively recently.

Denis Aldokhin/photo smugmug.com, IT.TUT.BY

After the end of their service life, most of the aircraft find their final refuge in the so-called aircraft cemetery (photos are presented below). The fact is that storing aircraft in hangars is almost impossible due to the fact that this requires a lot of money and space. It is much more profitable to leave it on a specially equipped site. Such landfills exist in almost all countries. This article will talk about the largest “burial ground” on the planet for decommissioned aircraft.

Location

The most large cemetery aircraft in the USA and on the planet is located near the city of Tucson in the state of Arizona. It is organized at the Davis Montand Air Force Base. The repair and technical group for servicing aviation and space equipment No. 309 is also stationed here. total area The territory occupied by the storage facility is 10.5 square kilometers. People who drive past on the nearby motorway are treated to a breathtaking and at the same time gloomy spectacle created by a huge amount ships lined up in a row.

Storage objects

The world's largest aircraft cemetery contains approximately 4,400 pieces of decommissioned aircraft. Here you can see jet fighter-interceptors, bombers, cargo liners, military transport ships and many other types. Some of them have already been almost completely disassembled for spare parts, and when you look at some other specimens, you get the impression that they have recently returned from another voyage. A significant proportion of aircraft are generally covered with covers that protect them from the harmful external influences of dust and sand. It should be emphasized that many of the local units can be quickly returned to service if the need arises.

Conditions

The place where this aircraft cemetery was created was not chosen by chance. The fact is that in this area there is dry, hot weather almost all year round. The humidity here is quite low and there is little precipitation. All this contributes to the long-term storage of aviation equipment, because it is not so susceptible to the destructive effects of rust. It should also be noted that at a depth of about fifteen centimeters under the soil lies a thick layer consisting of clay nitrate. It serves as a kind of hard lining, which makes it possible to leave aircraft directly on it. In other words, there is no need to build special platforms, the construction of which requires significant capital investments.

Service

Because if necessary aircraft must be promptly returned to service; their maintenance requires considerable effort. That is why this aircraft cemetery is maintained by employees of the 309th maintenance and repair group, who jokingly call it a “dump of bones.” All military equipment previously in service on aircraft carriers is cleaned of sea salt, which can cause corrosion. To ensure that all moving parts of aircraft remain lubricated, fuel lines and tanks are first emptied and then washed with viscous light oil. It is mandatory that base employees remove absolutely all explosive devices, including charges that ensure ejection of the pilot. After this, the channels and inlets are sealed with a special aluminum tape. At the last stage, all cars entering the Davis Montan aircraft cemetery are painted with paint that can be easily removed. This is done in two layers. The bottom one is black and the top one is white, which allows you to reflect the bright rays of the sun and prevent overheating.

In total, the base uses approximately 400 thousand units of various equipment for routine maintenance of decommissioned aircraft and the production of new spare parts. This also includes assembly lines mothballed many years ago. At the same time, the equipment removed from these vessels is used not only in the USA, but also in many other countries. There is also a melting furnace on the territory of Davis Montan, through which devices and parts that are not suitable for anything are completely recycled.

The most famous airplane cemetery in Russia is located a hundred kilometers from Vladivostok. During the Cold War, the secret air base "Vozdvizhenka" was stationed here, which was armed with supersonic bombers. After the collapse of the USSR, they turned out to be of no use to anyone and remained in their original place. Currently, the base is abandoned, and many military aircraft located here are no longer destined to take off. The only people who are interested in it are photographers who sometimes sneak here for a spectacular shot.

Another interesting “burial ground” is located on the territory of the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Here, not far from the village of Rassokha, a lot of equipment is stored that took part in eliminating the consequences caused by the 1986 disaster. Despite the danger of radiation contamination, for the purpose of their own profit, people are gradually removing elements that are still usable.

Moscow storage

The airplane cemetery in Moscow is located on the territory Khodynskoye field. In 1910, the Frunze airfield was built here, which operated for almost a century. However, it was closed in 2003. Now you can see abandoned aircraft on its runway and taxiways. Some time ago, the city authorities were going to create on the basis former airfield museum, but this idea was never translated into reality. Thus this place became last refuge for fifty aircraft, including MiG-21, Su-15 aircraft and helicopters. The territory of the landfill is closed to the public, but for a certain fee the guards still manage to get in here and take photographs as a souvenir. However, many aircraft were damaged by vandals - the fuselages were covered with graffiti and inscriptions, the instrument panels were looted, and the windows were broken.