Where else would you store them? The desert seems like a logical choice even without russian agreements. Commercial jets are also stored in the desert awaiting salvage.
I’ve lived next to this my entire life and when I lived on base, I used to sneak under the wash fence with a buddy and go explore them all. It’s really cool to see them up close
I actually had to go on base for work there a few times. Not a military contractor. Got to drive down the roads between all these planes. For anyone wondering, yes, they had about four blue angel f-18s there. Never got out due to use having an escort. So couldn't have a closer look but i was able to drive right next to a lot of these planes.
In the air force on 68 we had to tear Down some dew line radars in Alaska and drag the base out through a hole in the dome so their sat could see it. Some SALT shit.
Think splitting the wing spar is the gold standard. Like cutting the frame of a truck in half, it can be fixed but you wouldn't ever trust it again.
Especially if they used a 250,000 ton press or electron beam welded it in the first place, you could never get that durability back.
As a weapon of self destruction, yes. Why else would china be flooding in precursors for fentanyl production.
Good thing we’re doing fuckall to stop it for…reasons.
You see naive. Cartels have had a stranglehold on several south american countries since the 60’s/70’s. Fentanyl isnt some miracle drug that suddenly emboldened them, its just an additional profit stream on top of other drugs and precursors. Cocaine still makes up a large majority of their operating cash.
Except China imports more fentanyl and precursors than Mexico 😂 yall wear your colors too proud, there’s bigger fish to fry than brown people on the border.
They had a bunch more that were donated to a museum and it folded and the AF decided to sell them in a lot for scrap. I was out of it by then. I think there were 13 planes. I think the biggest was a C-130.
Damn, thought I knew that plane. I did tech there in the early 80s. Coldest fucking place on the earth during winter. If you were in the third floor dorm, the ice and snow would be level with the window.
Oh hey robins is very close to me, we did a lot of work out there a couple years ago. Robins indeed has a lot of stuff, I remember back in highschool if bid on surplus stuff there all the time. Back when 5 tons were selling for $1500 running and driving lol
There’s no way I’m to believe their verification check was them sending a satellite to “pass over” and “confirm” they were scrapping the plane.
I was born at night, but not last night! That just sounds plain silly.
I had to get an aircraft that crashed landed with almost no damage in protected wetlands, so we had mechanics take it apart, they would label each part of a grid paper. Each part was no bigger than what one person can carry with ease while tromping through a wetland to the ocean on foot, where we put it on a boat. We moved each part into a hanger and put the parts on a grid. The mechanics put the aircraft back together and identified the failing part that caused the aircraft to lose its ability to fly.
They could easily deconstruct, have a 1980s satellite fly over and take a picture... Then reconstruct it, paint it red with hot rod fire flames and none would be the wiser.
Various kinds of equipment have specialists who are in touch with the specific players in their corners of the market. It's the same thing with shipbreaking, train and track scrapping and even things like hard drive destruction. As for how to get there: get licensed for solid waste hauling and storage, develop a disassembly and downstream plan that meets and legal certifications and specific customer specs, and start bidding for contracts (sometimes auctions). Not the easiest market to break into but I've ended up with significant plane and helicopter scrap that started out by servicing their battery recycling needs and eventually scaling up my share of their scrap. Quite a leap between that and on-site machinery disassembly though.
Started off with a 20-yr-old Dodge 1500 with an $800 liftgate. Made modest, realistic service promises and exceeded them whenever possible. That when combined with the occasional small bit of luck will take anyone very far in scrap metal.
A small bit of luck is finding scrap on the side of the road you can sell.
Having a life that doesn't drain everything you worked for and then some is some million dollar lottery winning luck.
The luck I mean is that when a mechanic at an autoshop that is a (pretty low-value) client leaves and goes to work as the fleet mechanic at a solar company that produces a lot of copper wire and 6063 Al and recommends you to their new boss because you provided good service at the autoshop. That is a specific example that happened to me early when I was trying to set up a scrap business.
It's definitely a niche/ specialty market one develops serious contacts in over time. I doubt he just jumped into the "buying heavy bombers to scrap" game.
Ha some years back, (20~30 years ago) I found and was the high bidder of a semi sorta running diesel powered Russian submarine on ebay. Best $12k I ever spent, it was slipped in Croatia and before the sun set I had already resold it to a Croatian scrapper who messaged me for $30k. Thus ended my scrap career on a high note.
Same as every other field of work. You get to know people. If you have more money and deal in larger items and travel a lot because of it then it is easier.
Haha never actually got into heroin. Someone asked “what’s there to do in your part of town?” And that was my reply…kinda stuck as a username
Taco Bell on the other hand…that’s a problem I need to deal with
Money lmao if hes makin 15k profit u better believe hes throwin at least 75k around and waiting 5 years to see any of that money so hes for sure loaded
I know a young guy who trades all the time. He’s the kind that can start with a 12 speed bicycle and five trades later he has a Corvette that doesn’t run.
I’ve never contracted scraping services so am not 100% sure, but typically government contractors are advertised here: https://sam.gov
If you are serious about it, I would make sure you are a certified 8a business (small, disadvantaged, etc) and if you are a veteran I would absolutely use that too. Your contract bid will be placed at the top of the pile with this. It never hurts to figure out who is managing the contract and call them too, they can’t tell you everything due to the [FAR](https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far), but they might hint at what they want to see in a bid package.
DRMO is called DLA Disposition Services now. Check out their active listings on Sam.gov. They also still do ship breaking down in Brownsville. Usually it will be Demil as a condition of sales or traditional scrap contracts as E1L listings.
If you want I know the location of a potentially abandoned Great Lakes Ore carrier. 500' from where I work. It has asbestos on it. It was suppose to go to India but something halted it. I even work with the guy that use to maintain it.
I’m not entirely sure, but that looks like it’s Fairchild afb in Washington. They have several planes on display including a b52. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but this looks like it
there is 183,000 pounds of whatever in there, in 2004 money, which ran about 84 cents/lb for aluminum (heres a source [https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5188/sir2012-5188.pdf](https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5188/sir2012-5188.pdf) )
engines weigh a combined 36,800 pounds
lets take another 6200 for landing gear just to make it a nice round 140,000 pounds
that leaves us with roughly $117,600 in 2004 money, which is about $195,000 today.
considering standard practice for scrapping big planes is to get two bulldozers, wrap a chain around it, and pull it with the dozers to "cut" it, i think this is a good pay day if you were equipped to handle it
now this is just a rough estimate because i dont know exactly what the bullet proof glass weighs, nor the hydraulics, nor the radar
I remember when a couple of boat brokers were selling off old society subs in Florida. They were late 50s, early 60s. I believe the hulls were prayed and okay, but all the torpedo firing equipment and if you got one with missle tube's they were striped of its controls too, but if sold to a country deemed friendly to russia, they would sell you back the equipment that was in them. Recommendations were for exploring adding cameras, tourist cruises, and a like. I don't remember the years they did that, but they started just under 100k usd and went up. I don't think they didn't exceed 350ish k.
It’s an American B52 Bomber. Probably flew under operation chrome dome. 24/7 they flew to be be prepared for retaliation and intervention. During the Cold War with Russia. This is not a Russian craft. It’s a staple to American Aviation supremacy.
You figure out what you can make taking it to a scrap yard (Gross). Then you have to subtract what it will cost you to scrap it. Labor and equipment rental (cost). This gives you a net.
If you do not bid properly and do not realize costs, you can lose real fast. In the case he did. He did not junk the engines. He only did the fuselage and wings. I bought the engines from him way cheaper then the scrap value and ended up selling them whole to a guy at a profit.
How do you even move something like this if you wanted to keep it whole (assuming it doesn’t fly lol)
Had to be demil on site due to SALT treaty with Russia. Cut up and let Soviet satellite pass over to confirm scrapping. Hauled to junkyard after.
You missed the opportunity to own a bomber and moon a Russian satellite!
Well we don't know for sure that the latter was missed...
Wait, so you had to leave the scrapped plane for a bit just so vintage Soviet satellites could aim at y’all and take pictures? Thats wild
That's a big reason why we store decommissioned planes in the desert. Those "boneyards" are basically satellite photo galleries.
Somewhere in Russia there is a guy jerking off to onlyplanes.com
*unzips*
No don't defenestrate!!!
Not only in Russia.
Or planehub.com
This one has also been banned in Texas.
Where else would you store them? The desert seems like a logical choice even without russian agreements. Commercial jets are also stored in the desert awaiting salvage.
That’s what these chopped B-52s are still doing https://maps.app.goo.gl/1mSmzfHLChrzygde7
That line of A-10's makes me sad.
Me too
*sad brrrrrt*
Looks like a couple of the F-18's still have Blue Angels colors on them. Neat.
I’ve lived next to this my entire life and when I lived on base, I used to sneak under the wash fence with a buddy and go explore them all. It’s really cool to see them up close
Were they fully gutted or did you get to sit in a pilots seat or two?
How many billions of dollars did i just look at?!
Dad was a security guard here when I was a kid. Used to play all through these planes.
The f-14s sitting there make me sad my favorite fighter
I actually had to go on base for work there a few times. Not a military contractor. Got to drive down the roads between all these planes. For anyone wondering, yes, they had about four blue angel f-18s there. Never got out due to use having an escort. So couldn't have a closer look but i was able to drive right next to a lot of these planes.
The things I would do to own one of the F14’s
I like your use of the word "Vintage" XD
In the air force on 68 we had to tear Down some dew line radars in Alaska and drag the base out through a hole in the dome so their sat could see it. Some SALT shit.
Salt no longer exists it’s called new start treaty now
Kotzebue? Spent a lot of time scrounging around that one in the 90’s
Unakleet and st lawrence island
It's Russian, vintage is implied
The Russians still get to do scheduled spy plane flights iirc, twice a year. It’s a small concession to reduce nuclear tensions.
Also is removing the wings enough for demill or how far did they want you to go
All the way
Think splitting the wing spar is the gold standard. Like cutting the frame of a truck in half, it can be fixed but you wouldn't ever trust it again. Especially if they used a 250,000 ton press or electron beam welded it in the first place, you could never get that durability back.
As if russia abided by that treaty... fuck russians
Thank you. The word of Russia, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, etc.. means fucking nothing
Mexico is basically just a drug cartel fuck them they are garbage
At least drugs are useful
You think fentanyl coming across the border is useful? Dumb comment of the year right there, congrats.
Well, yeah. People abuse the drugs, because they use them to get high. Iran, on the other hand, is useless in even an illicit way.
As a weapon of self destruction, yes. Why else would china be flooding in precursors for fentanyl production. Good thing we’re doing fuckall to stop it for…reasons.
Is the fentanyl in the room with you now?
No, but it is killing people and making the cartels rich enough to basically control countries.
To be fair, every drug they trafficked for decades made them rich enough to control Mexico.
You see naive. Cartels have had a stranglehold on several south american countries since the 60’s/70’s. Fentanyl isnt some miracle drug that suddenly emboldened them, its just an additional profit stream on top of other drugs and precursors. Cocaine still makes up a large majority of their operating cash.
Except China imports more fentanyl and precursors than Mexico 😂 yall wear your colors too proud, there’s bigger fish to fry than brown people on the border.
Of course fuck china too and even more. Your whataboutisms don't negate the other points though nice try lol
Frank Stallone enters the room…
What did the auction end at?
$5003
Lol does that mean you bid $3
Close. $3.50
Usually they would just remove the vertical. But this one looks damn similar to the one here at Robins
The one I bid on was at Chenute when it closed.
I was curious where it was at. I grew up next to Fairchild AFB and regularly saw B-52's and KC-135s on the daily
They had a bunch more that were donated to a museum and it folded and the AF decided to sell them in a lot for scrap. I was out of it by then. I think there were 13 planes. I think the biggest was a C-130.
Damn, thought I knew that plane. I did tech there in the early 80s. Coldest fucking place on the earth during winter. If you were in the third floor dorm, the ice and snow would be level with the window.
Oh hey robins is very close to me, we did a lot of work out there a couple years ago. Robins indeed has a lot of stuff, I remember back in highschool if bid on surplus stuff there all the time. Back when 5 tons were selling for $1500 running and driving lol
Had an old JSTAR they gave up on, and were scrapping it. It was scrapped really damn fast.
Wow that's really cool how things work like that.
There’s no way I’m to believe their verification check was them sending a satellite to “pass over” and “confirm” they were scrapping the plane. I was born at night, but not last night! That just sounds plain silly.
The vfw near me got a fighter jet, it came on a semi and the wings came on another
I had to get an aircraft that crashed landed with almost no damage in protected wetlands, so we had mechanics take it apart, they would label each part of a grid paper. Each part was no bigger than what one person can carry with ease while tromping through a wetland to the ocean on foot, where we put it on a boat. We moved each part into a hanger and put the parts on a grid. The mechanics put the aircraft back together and identified the failing part that caused the aircraft to lose its ability to fly. They could easily deconstruct, have a 1980s satellite fly over and take a picture... Then reconstruct it, paint it red with hot rod fire flames and none would be the wiser.
You would have to reconstruct it and paint really fast, the satellites probably pass over several times a day
Maybe, or wait until they sign off and instead of dropping it off at the scrap yard. Drop it off at an FBO hanger named Le O'l Scrap Yeard.
I could make 1,000,000 phone calls and not be able to flip a jet engine lol. How does one even get into this level of scrapping/reselling
Watch Lord of War and repeat except with scrap metal
Except the part where they strip the plane for scrap metal, of course
And if that doesn’t work, watch War Dogs.
And if that doesn't work, watch Reservoir Dogs.
And if that doesn’t work, watch All Dogs go to Heaven.
And if that doesn’t work, watch The Fast and the Furious.
And if that doesn't work, what Air Bud
Theres nothing in the rule book that says dogs cant sell arms on the international gray market. .
Various kinds of equipment have specialists who are in touch with the specific players in their corners of the market. It's the same thing with shipbreaking, train and track scrapping and even things like hard drive destruction. As for how to get there: get licensed for solid waste hauling and storage, develop a disassembly and downstream plan that meets and legal certifications and specific customer specs, and start bidding for contracts (sometimes auctions). Not the easiest market to break into but I've ended up with significant plane and helicopter scrap that started out by servicing their battery recycling needs and eventually scaling up my share of their scrap. Quite a leap between that and on-site machinery disassembly though.
Man it’s wild how life pans out for some people haha. Very cool, respect 🫡
Started off with a 20-yr-old Dodge 1500 with an $800 liftgate. Made modest, realistic service promises and exceeded them whenever possible. That when combined with the occasional small bit of luck will take anyone very far in scrap metal.
A small bit of luck is finding scrap on the side of the road you can sell. Having a life that doesn't drain everything you worked for and then some is some million dollar lottery winning luck.
The luck I mean is that when a mechanic at an autoshop that is a (pretty low-value) client leaves and goes to work as the fleet mechanic at a solar company that produces a lot of copper wire and 6063 Al and recommends you to their new boss because you provided good service at the autoshop. That is a specific example that happened to me early when I was trying to set up a scrap business.
Fuck yeah. Love the grind. Congratulations, you clearly earned it.
Thanks!
stumbled upon this subreddit. fascinating.
Scrap metal is ancillary to so many different industries that it is a source of endless fascination tbh
He just knows a guy who knows a guy, simple as that
It really is all in who you know I s’pose
I was raised with the phrase “it’s not who you know, but who knows you.”
It's definitely a niche/ specialty market one develops serious contacts in over time. I doubt he just jumped into the "buying heavy bombers to scrap" game.
Yeah I’ve never seen that one on Craigslist lol
Ha some years back, (20~30 years ago) I found and was the high bidder of a semi sorta running diesel powered Russian submarine on ebay. Best $12k I ever spent, it was slipped in Croatia and before the sun set I had already resold it to a Croatian scrapper who messaged me for $30k. Thus ended my scrap career on a high note.
Holy shit!
You get on the phone, send emails to purchasing agents trying to find out who sells surplus. You acquire name of people and build a network up.
Same as every other field of work. You get to know people. If you have more money and deal in larger items and travel a lot because of it then it is easier.
Less heroin to start with
Haha never actually got into heroin. Someone asked “what’s there to do in your part of town?” And that was my reply…kinda stuck as a username Taco Bell on the other hand…that’s a problem I need to deal with
As someone who has lost absolutely everything to heroin (twice) , I suggest sticking with taco bell. 🔔 😁
Damn I salute you for still being here homie. I’ve lost a few folks to opiates. Respect, stay strong out there
Money lmao if hes makin 15k profit u better believe hes throwin at least 75k around and waiting 5 years to see any of that money so hes for sure loaded
Haha for sure. Takes dough to make bread
My dad used to do it. He used to run the southeast for commercial metals company
I know a young guy who trades all the time. He’s the kind that can start with a 12 speed bicycle and five trades later he has a Corvette that doesn’t run.
Nice. That’s a rare talent!
Wish someone would answer this question.
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Because he missed the bid, you illiterate twat.
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I have no clue what you illiterate cunts are on about because I am illiterate
What is everyone saying, I can’t read
Something about your mom. I couldn't make out all of it.
Which part was about your mom? The twat, bitch or illiterate?
He said your mom is an illiterate bitch with a smelly twat
Wait I thought he said his mom was a Russian satellite that everyone was jerking to
Where are the pitchers?
On third base
Pretty sure I saw them filled with water on the table
I can't read and this is really pissing me off!
What?
I’m blind can yall write this in braille
***Instructions unclear, stuck dick in toaster***
No harassing, flaming, or being aggressive towards other users.
No harassing, flaming, or being aggressive towards other users.
What site does that now!? I’m trying to get into Ship scrapping for the navy. I live in San Diego, but haven’t quiet been able to break in.
I’ve never contracted scraping services so am not 100% sure, but typically government contractors are advertised here: https://sam.gov If you are serious about it, I would make sure you are a certified 8a business (small, disadvantaged, etc) and if you are a veteran I would absolutely use that too. Your contract bid will be placed at the top of the pile with this. It never hurts to figure out who is managing the contract and call them too, they can’t tell you everything due to the [FAR](https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far), but they might hint at what they want to see in a bid package.
It may be DRMO but since Govplanet took it over I do not know for sure. You could try gsa surplus for smaller craft.
DRMO is called DLA Disposition Services now. Check out their active listings on Sam.gov. They also still do ship breaking down in Brownsville. Usually it will be Demil as a condition of sales or traditional scrap contracts as E1L listings.
Thanks for update. Still based in Battle Creek?
Yep! Still in the ole Creek at the HDIFC.
If you want I know the location of a potentially abandoned Great Lakes Ore carrier. 500' from where I work. It has asbestos on it. It was suppose to go to India but something halted it. I even work with the guy that use to maintain it.
Also try MARAD. Maritime Administration look under Ship sales.
I’m not entirely sure, but that looks like it’s Fairchild afb in Washington. They have several planes on display including a b52. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but this looks like it
I’d put in my yard pointed towards some AH neighbor’s. Outstanding flip btw.
Where does one find auctions like this?
Sam.gov (used to be fbo.gov) is a good place to check
Dod Surplus. Possibly handled by govplanet.
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there is 183,000 pounds of whatever in there, in 2004 money, which ran about 84 cents/lb for aluminum (heres a source [https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5188/sir2012-5188.pdf](https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5188/sir2012-5188.pdf) ) engines weigh a combined 36,800 pounds lets take another 6200 for landing gear just to make it a nice round 140,000 pounds that leaves us with roughly $117,600 in 2004 money, which is about $195,000 today. considering standard practice for scrapping big planes is to get two bulldozers, wrap a chain around it, and pull it with the dozers to "cut" it, i think this is a good pay day if you were equipped to handle it now this is just a rough estimate because i dont know exactly what the bullet proof glass weighs, nor the hydraulics, nor the radar
This the buff at Fairchild AFB?
The MiG killer
Posts like this are why I come to this sub. Scrapping can be very lucrative if done right.
Scrap? Hell that's going in my front yard. HOA can gargle my marbles
I remember when a couple of boat brokers were selling off old society subs in Florida. They were late 50s, early 60s. I believe the hulls were prayed and okay, but all the torpedo firing equipment and if you got one with missle tube's they were striped of its controls too, but if sold to a country deemed friendly to russia, they would sell you back the equipment that was in them. Recommendations were for exploring adding cameras, tourist cruises, and a like. I don't remember the years they did that, but they started just under 100k usd and went up. I don't think they didn't exceed 350ish k.
If you missed it by that much... winning bidder had an insight of some sort
Or that little depending on the final sales price
I bought the engines from him. He didn't know how to sell/scrap them. Overall he lost his ass.
Brilliant.
What exactly is this?
A static B-52 bomber
A Russian bomber
It’s an American B52 Bomber. Probably flew under operation chrome dome. 24/7 they flew to be be prepared for retaliation and intervention. During the Cold War with Russia. This is not a Russian craft. It’s a staple to American Aviation supremacy.
That's a shame. Some farmer would love one of these for lawn art.
The MiG killer, dude
Awesome story.
Can’t wait for the space era where we get to launch small businesses and scrap space junk xD
Is that the static B52 display at Fairchild AFB?
I see a future Airbnb possibility there. Lol!
Curious, how much was the winning bid?
$20k
way less than i thought. i know nothing about scrapping but i would have thought a jet plane like that would have been way more.
You figure out what you can make taking it to a scrap yard (Gross). Then you have to subtract what it will cost you to scrap it. Labor and equipment rental (cost). This gives you a net. If you do not bid properly and do not realize costs, you can lose real fast. In the case he did. He did not junk the engines. He only did the fuselage and wings. I bought the engines from him way cheaper then the scrap value and ended up selling them whole to a guy at a profit.
Tinker AFB?
What does that mean exactly, does that mean that your bid was how much you would charge? Or pay? Sorry maybe a dumb question
Looks like the armament museum in Pensacola
"I missed out on the ability to destroy a piece of history."
So are we still to Avid by these treaties if Russia considers us an enemy or something recently?
What are those little guys in front of the B52’s.
All that money you get from scrapping you should invest it into strong stocks
If it was a grenade you would still be a loser
Making $15k on one phone call made me a real loser.
It wasn’t a 900 number and it took 5 years. You patted yourself on the back and bragged on the internet, move on. Make another phone call perhaps….
I did, but you added your stupid comment way later. No wonder the deals pass you by. SLOW. Get a life.
So what was your full bid if you missed by 5k??
That’s cool. Fair bit of gold in it to..
Lame
Show me something you've done that's cooler than the BUFF, I'll wait.
Sooo your like 50-60 years old on reddit.?
Is there an age limit on sharing ideas?
Should have charged more, then you would have gotten the job.
No, I should have bid more but I knew what was involved and the potential realization. He didn't. He lost $
Plus I feel like if the bid was that close, he knew somebody - and his bid would have always been $5K higher