As far as John Wayne's converted ship goes, it was (is?) a mine-layer
rebuilt to his specs. One story goes that he used it to go to Alaska and
load up on glacier blue ice for his drinks. I wonder where it is now?
The 'Desert Boneyard' at Davis-Monthan AFB is huge, but as Sean said, has
very few if any WW2 aircraft left. Growing up in Tucson in the early
60's, I remember going there with my buds on our bicycles. They were
using B-36 Peacemaker propellers stacked as a fence!! We climbed all
around the old planes, 'bombing' the oilfields in Romania and the islands
of the enemy-held Pacific. Great sport. I still have a 8-day clock that I
'saved' from the smelter. It is still possible to buy aircraft from the
yard as they come up for auction. The complete one's usually go to aerial
fire bombing and the remains of the B-52s go by the weight of aluminum to
make beer cans. The Air Force does have tours around the rows and rows of
aircraft that are left, which is substantial.
Flying over the base is like looking at one great big piece of aluminum.
Thankfully, the Pima Air Museum, the 3rd largest aircraft collection in
the world (after Air&Space and AF Wright-Pat) has managed to save many a
rare bird from the smelter and is well worth the visit. Go during the
winter as the summer is usually over 100F.
OK, I'll shut up now.
Dave in Flagstaff,AZ.USA
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