MiG Graveyard

Never saw such sights as these at Bagram.  No, the MiG Graveyard seems to be peculiar only to Shindand, and what an interesting and scenic peculiarity it is…

I know next to nothing about the hows and whys of these old Russian MiGs piled up in this corner of Afghanistan, and even less of the details about the relics pictured here.  Speculation abounds.  Of course the Russians helped build up and occupy this base a couple of decades ago.  I know that the views here at the graveyard have changed greatly in just the past year or so – it is slowly getting cleaned up.  I’ve seen pictures of soldiers with wrenches straddling the silent war birds and working on removing salvageable or interesting parts.  I’ve seen heavy equipment towing the rumpled hulk of a helo body out of the pile.

Were these planes damaged while parked on the flightline decades ago, strafed by their enemies before they could scramble up and away?  Did they limp home to Shindand after being bullet-riddled and injured during a sortie?  Did mechanical issues keep them grounded when the Russians bailed out?  Probably some of all of the above…

At least they are not completely useless, as the next picture below shows an old bird being utilized as a bird sanctuary – I count at least five pigeons on this one. 

      

There are other things in this bone yard as well – truck bodies, shells of tankers, tank tracks minus the tank, old-c-wire and many other miscellaneous metal scraps.  Of course, it is not safe to really poke around in here without expert guidance (all of my pics came from around the edges).  All sorts of sharp and jagged metal edges, lots of hiding places for snakes and other critters, the possibility of unexploded ordnance, and so forth.

      

Oh the tales they could tell…