🇮🇸 Islande : Le Mystère du Crash du DC-3 | Documentaire
Video from the channel Alex le Touriste about Douglas DC-3, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 6:00. Language: French. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
Short piece about the wreckage of the Douglas DC-3 at Sólheimasandur, in Iceland. It lies on a black sand beach and has become one of the country's most photographed spots.
Historical context
In November 1973, a US military DC-3 carrying US Navy personnel was flying over Iceland's south coast. In extreme weather, the engines lost power because the fuel froze, and the pilot had to make an emergency landing on the black sand desert. All the occupants survived. The US armed forces recovered the essential equipment, but the aircraft, badly damaged and isolated, was left in place because moving it cost too much.
Key facts
The wreckage is an hour's walk from the nearest road, in a spot with no trees or houses. It has spent more than fifty years exposed to wind, rain and salt. Visitors have left stickers, carved inscriptions and the graffiti of a man's head on the fuselage.