That Iceland plane..

Thanks for posting, that's a really good read.
 
What an interesting and bizarre story.

Thanks for posting.
 
Was up in Iceland in February this year and the farmer who ownes the land had closed the way to it because of tourists who did not stay on the track to it causing damage.
Check out if it is still this way before you put it on your to do list.
 
We drove down the official track in March last year, and Big Andy of this parish managed to crack the windscreen of his Toyota Land Cruiser. God knows what would have happened if we had got lost!
 
Thanks for posting that link, Alastair. I was on the same trip as Frank (Mikledore) but not in the vehicle that suffered the broken screen. Managed to get down to the plane (and back!) twice without a problem but the LandCruiser must take some of the credit! The only real advantage to doing it ourselves was that we had the wreck to ourselves which was great for our photographic wants/needs; the organised trips in ATVs could make it a bit crowded down there, although I dare say that a few Krowns would probably get small groups a while of private access (at the right time of year!)
 
Thanks for sharing the story.
 
A very well written account. I've actually got a couple of slides featuring the very same aircraft....it was a frequent visitor to Mildenhall in the early 70's.

Bob
 
What an interesting article, thanks for posting that. Great to see what the plane looked like when it first crashed.

Still hoping to walk out to the plane on my next visit but really nervous about getting lost and dying and being a dumb tourist. Really wish i'd known about/visited this in 2007 when there wouldn't be hundreds of people going every day.
 
I agree ..thank you for posting that. When we go to Iceland, I think we will pass on that one!
 
I reckon it's worth a few quid to get the organised vehicle down to the plane.

Sun and snow (for about 2 minutes!) got me this... Very surreal place (but the whole island is!)

029029 by gpn63, on Flickr
 
I reckon it's worth a few quid to get the organised vehicle down to the plane.

Sun and snow (for about 2 minutes!) got me this... Very surreal place (but the whole island is!)

Flickr

oh is there an organised trip there now, i thought it was all banned? i do think it would be satisfying to walk, i just worry about my ability to get lost :P if only mu friend who has great sense of direction was coming with me....
 
@Nod oh quad bikes, i thought you meant just a car/truck trip. i'm not really into the idea of quad bikes, i'm a wet blanket. Sky dives and epic bungees are fine, but driving things, less fun :P
 
There may well be Arctic Truck type trips down as well.
 
Thanks for sharing the article, I'm now less inclined to visit the plane in a few months, as I don't like the idea of crowds, or getting lost for that matter. The Vik beach story is sobering.
 
Many thanks for posting this, a very interesting and engaging read that provides excellent background to the ubiquitous images of this wreck.
 
Imagine that plane/location in UK- there would be a theme park built around it by now
 
No shortage of UK aircraft wrecks (admittedly not all as photogenic as this Icelandic example). No shortage of Iceland ones either according to the article.

So why does this one dominate so much? Is it because we're lazy? (we as photographers)
 
It could be the absolute desolation that surrounds this one. Decades of exposure to the sandblasting winds have stripped all the paint off it and it now sits in its bare aluminium skin on black sand, often with a carpet of snow around it. The others sound relatively intact, with one of them now sporting the tail off the one near Vik!
Not too sure how safe it is climbing around in the thing, especially as a slightly (!!!) overweight 50 year old in bulky, warm gear. Getting very flexible in places and sharp edges abound...
 
That was an interesting read. I also found the rear mud flap equally interesting on the big truck about half way through.
 
The letters you can't see are Ba not Fu!!!
 
Not too sure how safe it is climbing around in the thing, especially as a slightly (!!!) overweight 50 year old in bulky, warm gear. Getting very flexible in places and sharp edges abound...

Did you never go inside Nod? Floor was missing but the cross members were sound. Largely full of sand though so we walked on that.



_MG_7376
by mickledore on Talk Photography
 
Yes, I did, Frank, hence my comment! I stuck to the cross members when possible but was less stable/secure when I made it up into the cockpit, which has far fewer solid things for a man of my bulk to stand on safely! As you can see in your shot of it, that left hand side longitudinal member is very saggy. The only shots I have of the cockpit are from outside - didn't trust my balance (or footing!) enough to get any from inside.
 
Must agree with you there Nod. All my cockpit shots are also from the outside. I wanted to get home in one piece!
 
I did get into the cockpit for a look but kept both hands holding onto something solid just in case!
 
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