Where military jets go to die

Heat ripples off the desert floor at the boneyard.

(AP Photo/Matt York) Established in 1946, the base's Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group cares for these grounded relics. Some of the boneyard's residents survived myriad missions an

A crew member secures a Navy Lockheed P-3C Orion with tie-downs after its arrival.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

An Army Sikorsky VH-34 Choctaw helicopter — once used to transport President Dwight D. Eisenhower — sits in a field at the boneyard. President Eisenhower became the first chief executive to be transported by helicopter, and VH-34s serv

(AP Photo/Matt York)

A Boeing 707 jet at the boneyard.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

Farewell messages written by the final crew cover the cockpit of a C-5 Galaxy cargo plane.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

A farewell message inside the nose cone of an F-4 Phantom.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

Preservation servicer Katy Shank sprays a sealing paint on a former Navy Blue Angel F-18.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

Phil Kovaric and Dennis Varney remove the missile rails from an F-4 Phantom slated for destruction.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

Workers apply rudder locks on a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy cargo jet. The C-5 has been used to support U.S. military operations in all major conflicts since 1969, including Vietnam, Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

A wolf and her pup stand under a B-52G.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

F-16 Fighting Falcons sit in a field along Miami Street. Over 4,500 variants of the F-16 have been produced since 1973. This field of fighters will become drone target planes in the future.

(AP Photo/Matt York)