The 1973 US Navy C-117D Sólheimasandur Crash, commonly known as the Sólheimasandur Crash, is a crashed

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

Douglas C-117D located in on the southern coast of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. The remains of the aircraft - which crashed in 1973 - have remained relatively intact, leading to the crash site becoming a tourist destination.

Accident

The accident aircraft was flying from Hofn Hornafjördur Airport to

Naval Air Station Keflavik Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) was a United States Navy station at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland, located on the Reykjanes peninsula on the south-west portion of the island. NASKEF was closed on 8 September 2006, and its facilitie ...

, after delivering supplies for the radar station at

Stokksnes Stokksnes () is a headland on the southeastern Icelandic coast, near Hofn and Hornafjördur. Stokksnes is located south of Kastarárfjall mountain, and includes Vestrahorn mountain, which was featured in the Bollywood film '' Dilwale''. The H-3 ...

. En-route the aircraft encountered severe icing and the crew were forced to land on a frozen river at Sólheimasandur. All 7 crew members survived and were rescued by helicopter, but the aircraft was written off (surveyed in USN parlance). The unsalvaged remains of the aircraft were left at the scene.

Aircraft

The aircraft serial number 17171, was designated C-117D and was based on the Super DC-3, first flown in 1944. Note that this R4D-8 was built as an R4D-5 (msn 12554) and converted to R4D-8 (msn 43309) in November 1951. All R4D-8 aircraft still extant were re-designated as C-117D in the tri-service designation system introduced from 18 September 1962.

Summary

Forced to land due to severe icing, 17171 was written off and unsalvaged parts of the aircraft remained at the site. As of 2020, the fuselage of the aircraft remains relatively intact, leading to the site becoming a popular tourist destination. The wreck has accumulated superficial damage from graffiti, gunfire, and tourists over the years. Tours to the site are available and the trek back-and-forth, takes about four hours. In January 2020, two Chinese tourists died of hypothermia near the wreckage after getting caught in a storm that went over the area. A month later,

SAR SAR or Sar may refer to: Places * Sar (river), Galicia, Spain * Sar, Bahrain, a residential district * Sar, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran * Sar, Tibet, Tibet Autonomous Region of China * Šar Mountains, in southeastern Europe ...

units had to rescue several tourists that had ignored a warning from the police to not trek to the wreckage due to deteriorating weather in the area.

Popular culture

*The crash site of the DC-3 was featured in Justin Bieber's 2015 album '' I'll Show You''. *American musician George Hirsch's 2016 album ''Hijrah'' used an image of the Sólheimasandur crash as its cover. *The show Top Gear America featured in the episode "Viking Trucks" while in Iceland. * A music video of song named ''

Gerua Gerua () is a Hindi song from the 2015 Indian film '' Dilwale''. The song was written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, composed by Pritam Chakraborty, and sung by Arijit Singh and Antara Mitra. The song's music video stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. ...

'', from the Indian film " Dilwale" was shot at this site, in which lead actors

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" ...

and

Kajol Kajol Devgan (née Mukherjee; born 5 August 1974), known mononymously as Kajol, is an Indian actress. Described in the media as one of the most successful actresses of Hindi cinema, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six F ...

are seen standing on the wreckage. The site eventually gained popularity among Indian tourists after the release of the song. *The site was also featured in the music video "Let Me In", an orchestral ballad song from the Korean girl group

Loona Loona (commonly stylized in all caps or as LOOΠΔ; ; ja, 今月の少女, Kongetsu no Shōjo, Girl of the Month) is a South Korean girl group formed by Blockberry Creative. The group was introduced to the public through a pre-debut project t ...

's third single release,

HaSeul ''HaSeul'' (or ''LOOΠΔ & HaSeul'') is the third single album from South Korean girl group Loona's pre-debut project. It was released on December 15, 2016, by Blockberry Creative and distributed by CJ E&M CJ E&M (Hangul: 씨제이이앤엠, ...

. * The crash site of the DC-3 was featured in

Emis Killa Emiliano Rudolf Giambelli, best known as Emis Killa (born 14 November 1989), is an Italian rapper. Biography and career Emis Killa was born in Vimercate to a Sicilian mother from Palermo who worked as a metalworker and a Lombard father who als ...

's song Mercurio. * The site is featured in the Netflix sci-fi drama Katla.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1973 US Navy C-117D Sólheimasandur Crash Tourist attractions in Iceland Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas C-47 Skytrain Aviation accidents and incidents in 1973 Aviation accidents and incidents in Iceland 1973 in Iceland Accidents and incidents involving United States Navy and Marine Corps aircraft