Forsaken by Ian Merritt

Mojave Airport, one of a handful of outlying air fields where abandoned aircraft wait to be recycled.

Looking at these once proud "birds" just sitting there, abandoned, amidst the windblown scrub, evokes a sad sense of nostalgia.

In truth, to continue to operate these machines once they develop stress fractures and other wear and tear defects would present a huge safety hazard. The recycled metals may someday fly again as part of other, new aircraft until they too must be retired, and once more the cycle repeats.

A great deal of historical information and other images, many from brighter days, may be found online by web searching these aircraft ID numbers.