Some Assembly Required #14585

The Story

It looks like military cargo plane 99-4 is laid up in an airplane graveyard with no hope of parole in sight. The dents, damage, and dismemberment are permanent which certainly means the end. Actually, what appears to be a whole airplane is simply Frankenstein-ed together for appearances with the fuselage laid perpendicularly across several other plane bodies. Three of the engines with propellers were set down in line beside it. Having run out of room, one engine is left stranded on the ground with a bent prop. The wings have flown too which have been cut off to move this military cargo plane here. If you look closely, the fuselage has been split lengthwise with the bottom missing.

This mixed salvage yard lies close to Fort Dix so it contains military airplane parts, cut down planes including jet fighters, a few helicopters, and random military air surplus. There are traditional junkyard things too like cars, trucks, and buses. Overall, this junkyard contains anything made of metal. In this picture, you can see an upturned bathtub, a Mack truck, a heavy crane, warehouse racking, an airport luggage cart, and a four-cylinder engine.

Much of it is piled and stacked up high due to the limited acreage. The sheer density of junk lying around the place was surprising. Nearly every inch is in use and occupied by something or other. The main roads are clear, but plenty of narrow rabbit paths run through narrow nooks and crannies. That made for some tight fits going through carrying shooting equipment. I swear, this guy never gets rid of anything.

With this old military cargo plane stacked on its brethren this way, I’d call this creative junking. In a way, this pseudo-plane is a different kind of impromptu sculpture in aircraft-grade aluminum which certainly pulls interest and a photographer’s eye. That could apply to much of the entire junkyard which is also part airplane graveyard. This was a fascinating and unique place to shoot, a junkyard like no other I’ve seen. Maybe it was done not only for salvage sake but maybe a little fun hoarding too.

Here’s another view of this junkyard plane as Planely Unusual #14945.  Picker’s Paradise #14584 is a view of the entrance to this scrap metal yard with junk piled high on both sides, another unusual sight to be sure.

Location: near Atco, Camden County, New Jersey.