People can't understand why $34 billion worth of airplane parts are sitting in graveyard

Ever wondered what an airplane graveyard looks like? Well, you don't have to anymore, thanks to amazing aerial footage.

The clip on X (formerly Twitter) shows a zoomed-out view of what's known as the 'boneyard' at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.

It's home to something called the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, which is basically a massive area that the Air Force uses to house planes that are no longer in active commission.

The combined total of everything parked there (at least when the planes were in use) is reportedly around $34 billion, a huge amount, and it's left people wondering just how this can be an efficient use of the old planes.

One comment under that X post read: "Recycle?? No money there? Or nostalgia??", and another wondered: "Can you make anything with them?"

Thankfully, both aren't far off the mark, because the mass parking at Davis-Monthan isn't actually the simple waste of space that it looks like.

As hinted at by its name, 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, there's in fact a complicated system here designed to supply the Air Force with replacement parts and materials from its backlog of old air vehicles.

This means that many of these planes are partially stripped for parts, or are in the process of being stripped for those parts, just very slowly and as needed.

So, in some ways this is less of a graveyard, and more like a giant mechanic's toolbox, or a pantry full of spares for the planes still in use today.

Air Force Col. Jennifer Barnard told AirForce Times that the group can fulfil certain requests on a same-day basis, if the location and the request are both right, and explains that the airfield is a really important resource.

She said: "We get looked at as an air power reservoir. Our guys take a lot of pride in preserving these aircraft and taking really good care of them. They know they might be needed again, whether it’s a whole airplane or just its parts."

This isn't just for show - the planes that come to the base aren't broken, for the most part - they're just retired. So, in many cases, they're kept in careful working order so that they can be used in a pinch.

Once parts come off a plane for a request, they're carefully refurbished and brought up to a like-new standard, so you don't have to worry that the Air Force is patching up modern fighter jets with rusty bits of junk.

This is a fascinating glimpse into the massive machinery that goes on behind the scenes in the military, so be sure to check out that AirForce Times article for a more detailed look into life on the base.