Short title

In mid-day heat of the arid Arizona desert, a complete set of main landing gear undercarriage stands upright amid a field of similar items from airliners at the storage facility at Davis Monthan, Tucson. Here, the fate of the world's retired civil airliners is decided by age or cooling economy. Cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium is worth more than their sum total. Elsewhere, assorted aircraft wrecks sit abandoned in the scrub minus their bellies, legs or wings like dying birds. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.

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Filename: aviation_corbis42-15-08-1998.jpg
Copyright: © Richard Baker. No copying, screen grabbing, transmission or publication without permission.
Image Size: 4232x4219 / 7.4MB; www.photoshelter.com/support/license; https://www.bakerpictures.com/contact; transportation transport planes plane flight aviation aircraft air travel air transport air aerospace aeronautics graveyard boneyard ruins redundant useless lifeless storage commercial airliners technology archaeology bygone historic era terminated end of the line decline old worthless arid desert Tucson Arizona facility metalic aluminium scrap recycle re-usable end of service parts air frame fuselage equipment dead end scrap yard junk retired dump relics Davis-Monthan forgotten fate economy industrial remains undercarriage wheels landing-gear tyres tires set group field upright complete main collection commercial aviation Boeing airbus international trade commerce Richard Baker photographer airliner airline landing civil engineering mid-day USA transcontinental
Contained in galleries: Editorial, 'Work' in 100 images, Plane Pictures, Aviation, Aviation Junkyards, Jumbo Jet

In mid-day heat of the arid Arizona desert, a complete set of main landing gear undercarriage stands upright amid a field of similar items from airliners at the storage facility at Davis Monthan, Tucson. Here, the fate of the world's retired civil airliners is decided by age or cooling economy. Cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium is worth more than their sum total. Elsewhere, assorted aircraft wrecks sit abandoned in the scrub minus their bellies, legs or wings like dying birds. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.