US airport in the middle of nowhere is now home to apocalyptical aircraft boneyard

This North Carolina airport may be the state’s most fascinating, but it certainly isn’t its most used.

The Laurinburg-Maxton Airport is more akin to a plane graveyard than it is to a running airport.

Situated in between Charlotte and Wilmington, the boneyard remains a site of interest for plane lovers.

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The ‘abandoned’ airport that you have to see to believe

It once had three functioning runways but is now owned by Charlotte Aircraft, which scraps older aircraft.

It was first constructed in World War Two for use by the United States Army Air Force.

The locals bought up a square mile of land and leased it to the federal government, allowing them to construct the $10 million air base.

It was there that glider training took place.

After the War finished in 1945, the army no longer needed the base and turned it back over to the local people.

With a lot of land on their hands, the locals put it to good use.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol put their cadets through the wringer by using the land for car chase training.

This lasted from the 1960s up until the 1990s.

The story of Charlotte Aircraft

The ground was also home to Charlotte Aircraft, founded in 1953 by Jenks Caldwell Sr.

According to one article, his intention was to put planes back together not tear them apart.

Although they were based out of Charlotte, a lot of their work was done at Laurinburg-Maxton.

It was there that they would buy old jetliners and take apart their valuable parts – doors, engines and more – to sell them back to airlines.

One 747 had its head removed and sent to the Smithsonian for display.

For years, the company allowed people to come visit the site, but they stopped this practice in 2017.

They apparently feared that some visitors were coming with intentions of stealing parts or vandalizing the planes.

Charlotte Aircrafts aren’t the only ones who have set up shop on the airfield.

Gryphon Group, founded by Michael Vaden, is a civilian company that provides military training.

They’ve had a home at Laurinburg-Maxton since 2009.

The airport is also now home to the Golden Knights, the army’s parachute team.

In 2020, the authority which runs the airport announced they would be extending the 2,000 feet runway to 8,500 feet to attract bigger planes.

With no chance of securing a visit, interested parties will now have to settle for ominous pictures from the internet.

It’s not quite as creepy as this abandoned airport in Cyprus, which has been left deserted since war broke out in the 1970’s.

But we wouldn’t want to be near either of them late at night, that’s for sure.