(MASDCIII)

AMARC (MASDCIII)  Book Reviews

AirForces Monthly, October 2006   "An authoritative read"  "Highly recommended"

 

Eight years after the publication of MASDC II AMARC, Barry Fryer and Martyn Swann have released the third book on the Aerospace Maintenance an Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan AFB, in Tucson, Arizona.  Martyn Swann has been associated with MASDC since publishing the first book about it in 1983. Co-authored with Barry Fryer (Fryer's second book) and Danny Bonny, the scope, content and detail provided by the team has once again 'raised the bar' on AMARC, one of the world's most interesting aviation complexes.

 

To many people who know about AMARC, it is 'the boneyard' in the desert, the place to where US military aircraft are retired.  This book explains what AMARC is really about - reclaiming parts and regenerating aircraft for foreign air arms and the civilian market, saving and making money for the US taxpayer.

 

The authors have retained similar articulation to the second book, opting this time for a two-column copy style, more photographs - all in colour - and a much-improved design.

My favourite section is 'AMARC at Work', which gives a comprehensive overview of the way in which the centre undertakes its military mission. Photographs provide good illustration.  Those showing aircraft inventory stencilling and protective spraylat application are particularly interesting.  Other images show AMARC workers inspecting, refurbishing and re-issuing parts and components, just one of the many roles undertaken.

 

With 4,200 aircraft and helicopters stored, the inventory is massive and an explanation is given how to interpret the listings in the book.  An inventory for all five of the US armed services (US Air Force, US Army, US Navy and Marine Corps and US Coast Guard), forms the main part of the book, with each presented separately, headed by the official seal on the lead page.

 

AMARC has a close association with the nearby Pima Air and Space Museum, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year.  Pima displays many aircraft withdrawn from AMARC, and the authors provide an excellent overview of the museum.

 

AMARC(MASDC III) is an authoritative read for anybody interested in aviation, going behind the scenes of a unique facility.  Highly recommended.

Scramble 333, February 2007    "An absolute must have"

 

Eight years after MASDC II AMARC was published, its writers Martyn Swann, Danny Bonny and Barry Fryer completed the third edition of their AMARC book.  This famous major storage facility in Arizona has a large appeal for aviation enthusiasts and many of them visited the facility over the past decades, or would like to.  While the second edition was still a large listing of serials, we are pleased to see that the new book is much more than that!  In the first chapters, the reader of the book gets an in-depth impression of the activities of AMARC covering all aspects from the arrival of an aircraft until its eventual disposal or departure.  All this is illustrated by very nice colour pictures. Additional chapters provide you with the inevitable comprehensive listings of air force, army, marines, navy, coast guard and other government agencies aircraft and helicopters which spent time in the Arizona desert between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2005.  For every aircraft the book contains details about the AMARC inventory number, unit code, former unit, exact type, arrival date and where necessary the departure date and its destination.  Also these chapters contain a large number of colour pictures.  All this is making this book and absolute 'must have' for everyone with the slightest interest in AMARC.

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Aircraft Illustrated,  March 2007     "Warmly recommended"

 

The Davis-Monthan 'boneyard' in Arizona is an impressive place, if only because its scale has no equivalent anywhere in Europe.  Here, in the third volume in the series, the authors cover the period 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2005.  As well as supplying the inevitable (and fascinating to many) lists of aircraft, dates and inventory numbers, the authors got to great lengths to explain the workings of the AMARC operation, while there are some 300 well-reproduced colour photos.  A true labour of love which comes warmly recommended.

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Combat Aircraft  Vol.8, No.2      "An exhaustive and photographic listing of aircraft"

 

This is the third volume in the series, covering the period January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2005. There's an undoubted fascination about the Davis-Monthan 'boneyard' and its 4,000-plus airframes parked in the Arizona desert.  But, as the authors point out, this huge facility is a lot more than a place where old aircraft go to die, and much effort is expended in a dynamic regeneration program. A significant proportion of stored aircraft are later brought back into use.  In recent years, 38 F-16's have been refurbished and reworked for the Italian AF and P-3s continue to be taken out of storage, regenerated and given a new avionics fit before delivery to a number of countries.  While much of this volume is, not unnaturally, tabular there is good text on the many activities at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center along with a large number of color illustrations.  On a sad note, the authors comment that the post-9/11 climate has restricted the outflow of information on some aspects of AMARC activity and, as a result, exact movement dates for C-130s, C-137s and C-141s are in some cases covered by 'blanket dates'.

 

Verdict:  Don't expect anything too arty.  This is an exhaustive and photographic listing of aircraft, but one that will nevertheless fuel your morbid fascination.