Pinal Airpark

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Pinal Airpark
IATA: MZJ - ICAO: KMZJ
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Pinal County
Serves		Marana, Arizona
Elevation AMSL		1,892 ft (577 m)
Coordinates		32°30′35″N, 111°19′31″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
12/30	6,850	2,088	Asphalt

Pinal Airpark (IATA: MZJ, ICAO: KMZJ) is an airport located in Pinal County, seven miles (11 km) northwest of the central business district (CBD) of Marana, a city in Pima County, Arizona, USA.

Its main purpose is to act as a "boneyard" for aircraft. Old airplanes are stored there with the hope that the dry desert climate will prevent rust and other forms of corrosion in case the aircraft is pressed into service in the future. Even so, many aircraft which are brought there wind up being scrapped. Nearby Davis-Monthan Air Force Base provides the same service to the U.S. military.

Pinal Airpark is the last known home of the Beechcraft Starship.

[edit] Facilities

Pinal Airpark covers 2,080 acres (8.4 km²) and has one runway.

Marana became the headquarters of all CIA air operations during the Vietnam War years, when it was the primary facility of Intermountain Airlines/Airways/Aviation a wholly owned CIA "front" company which was used to supply covert operations in Southeast Asia & elsewhere.

Intermountain was quite famous for its thinly veiled CIA special ops which included development & use of the Fulton Skyhook, but its cover was its non-scheduled freight and maintenance operations.

Marana was the principal continental United States maintenance base for southeast Asia CIA operations ops: Air America, Continental Air Services, etc.