Conditions at Davis-Monthan are especially boneyard-friendly. Besides the extremely dry desert climate and thin high-altitude air, the top soils are alkaline and sit on extra-hard clay "caliche" that allows ridiculously heavy planes to be parked without having to build pricey ramps.

Hundreds of staff take care of maintenance and scrapping of the site's inventory of aircraft, which has even included a former Air Force One, and one of the programs involves converting defunct fighter jets into drones. The boneyard is off limits to the public for security reasons but the adjacent Pima Air and Space Museum is worth visiting.

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Take a tour of the largest plane boneyards in the world