DEL LAUGHERY

BONEYARD ALMANAC
Series of Books

 

 

The Boneyard - A patch of Arizona desert full of stored and derelict aircraft from the past and present.  To walk among the war-weary aircraft parked here is to take a literal trip into the past.  Fighters sit among cargo aircraft, while bombers are surrounded by trainers.  Regardless of what specific plane is in your view, there's a story around how it got there and the men and women who flew it.  One of service.  One of sacrifice.  Of times both better and worse for the airmen and the world.

Photographer Del Laughery received unprecedented access over the last 15 years to the current collection itself as well as never-before-seen government archival photographs, and taps into his personal collection of photos from the 1960s through the 1990s, and uses them as the basis for all four books:

- Boneyard Almanac provides a look at the phases of operations at AMARG as well as the boneyard's connections with the USAF Museum and the Pima Air and Space Museum as part of the greater story of what happens to old, unwanted warplanes.

- Boneyard Almanac - Aircraft Histories takes you into the original development of now obsolete aircraft as well as the operational history of the specific aircraft pictured.

- Boneyard Almanac - Then and Now divides photographs into two periods:  Then, prior to the year 2000, and Now, from 2000 through current time.  This approach provides you the opportunity to compare and contrast over fifty years of aircraft storage at MASDC/AMARC/AMARG.

 

- Boneyard Almanac - 20th Century Picture Book focuses entirely on the period prior to the year 2000.  Its main purpose was to get as many photos, and captions, into a reasonably sized book as possible.
 

If you're an aviation fan, an ex-military pilot, or in love with history, the Boneyard Almanac series will provide a highly pictorial perspective that few ever get to experience first hand.  Del's photographs are extraordinary, placing you right next to these aircraft, so close, in fact, you can almost reach out and touch them.