Sean Chaffin
For the Roswell Tribune
One of the country’s largest “aircraft boneyards” will serve as the backdrop to this year’s National Championship Air Races in Roswell.
The Roswell Air Center continuously hosts a fleet of planes and jets no longer in service. They are parked at the facility to use as parts before the remaining metal heads to a recycling facility.
The airport is owned by the City of Roswell and was originally an airfield used during World War II. It became Walker Air Force Base during the Cold War before becoming an industrial airport in 1967.
Area residents can now grab a flight to Dallas via American Airlines, and the facility added United Flights to Denver in February.
“When airlines reach a certain number of flight hours, or a certain number of years or have mechanical reasons that are not economically smart to fix, then what they’ll do is send them to some place like Roswell,” Air Center Director and Assistant City Manager Bobbi Thompson said.
“There are about five places across the country that can do this. Then they disassemble them, and any parts that are still viable are sold. Then they take [the aircraft] … and crush and sell what’s left of the metal.”
The Air Center hosts around 200 aircraft at any one time. Many of the planes someone might see on the tarmac on one trip to the facility may be completely gone and replaced by the next trip, Thompson said.
“It’s a constantly changing number,” Thompson says.
Elvis’s Plane & More
Beyond the recycling efforts, the out-of-commission airliners are used to train mechanics and other personnel. Additionally, the center is used at times to house airplanes that may be looking for buyers after an airline goes out of business.
Roswell’s dry climate is the perfect setting to keep the machines in good condition as possible sales play out. Some planes awaiting maintenance may be stored on site as well. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when thousands of flights were canceled amid travel restrictions, more than 700 planes could be found in Roswell.
The Air Center even housed a private jet owned by Elvis Presley for 40 years before it was sold in 2023. The New York Post noted that the jet featured “a red exterior with silver accents, plus custom interior upholstery with red velvet and gold finish hardware.”
The 1962 Lockheed 1329 JetStar sold for $262,000 and the enterprising new owner transformed the king or rock ‘n roll’s former Graceland in the sky into a high-end RV after mounting the fuselage on a truck chassis.
In the past, law enforcement training has been a major part of the airport, but the company lost its contract with the federal government in 2025. The city is now looking to sell or lease that building and is also hoping to expand commercial flight options.
Ready to Race
In 2025, Roswell became home to the National Championship Air Races and city officials are hoping to build on that this year. Roswell has a three-year contract to host the event, which is set for Sept. 16-20.
The races brought in 56,000 people and produced an economic impact of almost $30 million for the state, Thompson says, and even more is expected this year.
“Last year we had five race classes, this year we have seven,” she said. “We also have a new Mach Course course. We had 42 race aircraft last year. This year we have 88. We had people here from 48 and six foreign countries, and we expect that to grow.
The Mach Course is a new 11-mile high-speed racecourse designed to let Jet Class aircraft push speeds up to 600 mph. Those in attendance will be experiencing an event they can’t see anywhere else, Thompson said.
“This is the only place in the world where this happens,” she said. “We think it’s major tourism, and then it’s kind of fun to say that this is the fastest racing in the world of any kind – and then New Mexico also has the slowest racing, which are the balloons [the Albuquerque balloon festival].”
