(All images (unless stated) by Jeffrey Stone, reproduced with permission)
In the southwest corner of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, at the junction of Trask Parkway and Geiger Boulevard, is a small aviation heritage park containing four retired fighter jets, including an F-4 Phantom and F-18 Hornet.
Meanwhile, a mile or so to the north, on the far western edge of the expansive base, lingers another collection withdrawn aircraft. But unlike their comrades in the heritage park, these battered, gutted and badly abused hulks are a far cry from their Cold War glory days.
Dotted throughout a clearing in woodland that has grown up around the threshold of a disused runway, the all-but abandoned aircraft are not entirely without purpose. Stripped of useful parts with holes punched through their corroding fuselages, these gaunt shells of planes appear to serve as battle damage repair (BDR) and crash rescue trainers.
(Image: Google Earth)
Google Earth, meanwhile, shows what appears to be the charred shell of an F-16 Fighting Falcon on the fire pan. But these aircraft have yet to be torched. Among the motley collection are another F-4 Phantom, an A-4 Skyhawk, a Grumman C-1 Trader and – most notably – a North American FJ Fury, arranged in a crash position on its back with undercarriage legs, or what’s left of them, pointing skyward.
Each one of MCAS Beaufort’s former US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft are long past the point of economical repair to a cosmetic preservation standard, and ultimately the scrapheap will beckon.
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