(Image: Airman 1st Class Cheyenne Morigeau)
There is no shortage of early model F-16 Fighting Falcons languishing in storage at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. This defunct F-16A, however, isn’t parked among the endless rows of mothballed planes that define the US government’s famous aircraft Boneyard. Faded and worn, its sun-bleached fuselage left open to the elements, this aircraft hasn’t flown in more than a decade.
The F-16 is mow used as a crash recovery training airframe, where those poised to respond to emergencies involving crippled aircraft and injured crew can hone their vital skills. The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base website reports that students from across the world make the journey to the Arizona base to train in a variety of crash rescue scenarios.
(Image: Airman 1st Class Cheyenne Morigeau)
Other redundant airframes used in the training exercises involve the retired hulk of a once-formidable F-15 Eagle (above) and a KC-135 Stratotanker.
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is one of the most successful all-weather supersonic multirole combat aircraft of all time, with more than 4,500 built to date. The serial number of this early production F-16 airframe is understood to be 79394, making it an F-16A Block 10B and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm. If you can find the location of this particular aircraft on Google Earth, please drop us a comment below!
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