309 AMARG

309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309 AMARG)
History of the 309 AMARG

Immediately after World War II, the Army's San Antonio Air Technical Service Command established a storage facility for B-29 and C-47 aircraft at Davis-Monthan AFB.  For years is was called the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC).

Today, this facility is the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309 AMARG), which has grown to include more than 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles from the Air Force, Navy-Marine Corps, Army, Coast Guard, and several federal agencies including NASA.

With an original purchase price of more than $35 billion, this aerospace fleet provides a unique savings account from which military units throughout the world may withdraw parts and aircraft. The government earns additional income by selling aircraft to our allies.

The chief reasons for selecting Davis-Monthan as the site for this storage center were Tucson's meager rainfall, low humidity, and alkaline soil. These conditions make it possible to store aircraft indefinitely with a minimum of deterioration and corrosion. In addition, the soil (called caliche) is hard, making it possible to park aircraft in the desert without constructing concrete or steel parking ramps.

In 1964 the Secretary of Defense directed the consolidation of all military aircraft storage and disposition centers into a single entity located at Davis-Monthan. This facility assumed the name Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center or MASDC.

In 1985, the addition of aerospace vehicles (Titan II missiles) as well as the Center's growing capability for restoring aircraft to flying status, prompted another name change to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center or AMARC. In May, 2007, AMARC aligned as a Group under the 309th Maintenance Wing at Hill AFB, Utah and became the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309 AMARG).

The 309 AMARG mission has evolved beyond merely the storage and preservation of aircraft. Today the Group provides customer services including aircraft regeneration (restoring aircraft to flying status), programmed depot-level maintenance, and parts reclamation, in addition to its historic storage and disposal functions.

[USAF file December 2008]

As the F-106's left service they went to AMARC some went twice: before and after flying and surviving as target Drones (QF-106).  Some AMARC surviving sixes are on static display in the US, some were sent to the ocean floor as artificial reefs, others were used by NASA for special missions.

F-106's return after surviving Drone duty

QF 590043	QF 590043	QF 580793
QF 572153	Row of QF-106's	Row of QF-106's

F-106's before they were Drones

572513	560463	570236
572547	580779, 590109	580791, 590080
590005, 590010	590006, 590086	590015
590026	590054	590063
590065	590093	590105, 106, 091
590115	590158, 590141	Row of Sixes
Row of Sixes	Row of Sixes	Row of Sixes
Row of Sixes	Row of Sixes	Row of Sixes
Row of Sixes	Row of Sixes	Junkyard
64 Aerial Shot	590020