Definitely one of the (if not the) highlights of my week in Iceland. I spent about an hour and a half photographing and exploring the wreck. I wasn't sure if the DC-3 would be popular with many tourists (or as the receptionist at the hostel said when I told her I visited it: "that's boring"), but it really wasn't that bad. Some 5-10/15 people in the area at a given time during my visit. Which means sometimes you had to wait for a clear shot, but well doable in any case.

Crashlanded on the beach at Sólheimasandur on November 24, 1973, following fuel starvation. Rumor has it the pilots switched to the wrong fuel tank. Fortunately the entire crew was able to walk away and nowadays the wreckage is a relatively popular tourist attraction. In the past you could drive up to it, but no more - vehicles have to be parked on a parking lot near the road now and you face a 3,5km hike each way. However, the terrain is easy and it's well worth the visit!

USS Kitty Hawk. 158639 later converted to a TE-2C trainer. Now struck off charge.

From San Diego HSM-71 Raptors, this is the CAG's machine arriving in Palm Springs.

HC-6 "Chargers" Sea Knight over LHD-1 USS Wasp flight deck.

Seen here on arrival for storage at AMARG

Damaged in belly landing at NAS Cecil Field, Florida 6 February 1968. Rebuilt with wings from RAAF A9-300 26 February 2008.

Medevac flight from Diego Garcia.

US Navy VR-64 Squadron, based at Lakehurst New Jersey, leaving for Shannon. Arrived at CWL on 11th February 2020 from Sigonella.

US Navy VR-64 Squadron, based at Lakehurst New Jersey, seen about to leave for Shannon. Arrived at CWL on 11th February 2020 from Sigonella.

Based at Lakehurst New Jersey, seen just before leaving for Shannon. Arrived at Cardiff on 11 February 2020 from Sigonella. (Note the 8-bladed props as fitted to E-3D Hawkeyes.)

A twin-seat Skyhawk of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 127 "Cyclones" at the ramp of homebase NAS Fallon. The adversary aircraft is even in rest closely and aggressively observed by its opponent in the back-ground, a VF-143 "Pukin Dogs" F-14A Tomcat.

A dying Tomcat, so sad to see that this F-14B, that was delivered in March 1985 to the US Navy as F-14A-130-GR, was scrapped during my visit to NAS Oceana. The Tomcat served proudly VF-11 as AE-101 (April 1987-March 1989) after which it was converted to F-14B. Then it was assigned to VF-103 as AA-202 (April 1992-January 1997), AA-102 (April 1998 - October 1997), AA-106 (February 1998 - March 1998) before it was transferred to VF-143 "Puckin Dogs". From September 1999 it carried AG-104 to the bare end.

There are striking color schemes and... there are striking color schemes. This one belongs to both categories I think! A-4F NJ-700 of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 127 "Cyclones" at homebase NAS Fallon. The hot rod was stored with 309th AMARG at Davis Monthan from 14 September 1992 onwards with inventory code 3A0679. Sadly, the airframe did not survive its storage period as it was scrapped by Fritz Enterprises in January 2005.

An A-4F of Strike Fighter Squadron 127 "Cyclones" prepared for a new mission over the Fallon ranges. This airframe once served the Blue Angels as number 4, and arrived with VFA-127 early 1989. Already before VFA-127 was disestablished on 23 March 1996, the A-4 was transferred to the Naval Fighter Weapons School (NFWS) at Miramar and served as code 54 from '91 to '92. Then it was transferred to Fighter Squadron 43 "Challengers" at Oceana with code AD-25. From Apr'94 onwards the Skooter was stored at AMARC where it was eventually scrapped in Jan'05 'Bullet/Elk', 3A0766 AMARC arr 7apr94/07jan05