Old Aircraft Wrecks Provide Unique Hiking Opportunities
Aircraft crash sites are common destinations for scuba divers, but you don’t need fancy equipment and rigorous training to combine physical activity and a look at history – a number of air crash sites can be part of your hiking adventures in the U.S. and overseas.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to a number of aircraft crash sites. At one such site, a Cessna 414 met its final resting place in 1983 on Waterrock Knob in North Carolina. Its two occupants were killed in the accident.
If you prefer to hike in the western U.S., the remains of a B-17 World War II bomber can be found west of Fort Collins off the Stormy Peaks Trail. The airplane crashed in 1944, killing four of the ten people on board.
The U.K. is home to several aircraft crash sites, particularly at higher elevations where recovery of wreckage is difficult or unnecessary. Most of these aircraft were victims of World War II. A U.S. Air Force Boeing RB-29A Superfortress crashed near the town of Glossop, Derbyshire, in the Peak District in November 1948. A nearby Peak District hike reveals the crash of a Bristol Blenheim, which met its demise in January 1939.
Ayreshire, Scotland, in particular is something of a hotspot for history buffs hiking to aircraft wreck sites, with several crashes in a relatively small region.
For the more adventurous, a trip to one of Thailand’s quietest national parks, the Phu Toei National Park, features a hike to a 1991 Lauda Air Boeing 767 crash site.
These are just a few of the aircraft crash sites discoverable while hiking. The next time you set out for a hike, do a simple internet search to see if a wreck site might be part of the history available on your adventure.
Remember, always leave these sites as you found them. Although many of the sites have been scavenged over the years, some are the final resting places of crew and passengers. Be respectful. Pause for a moment to consider those who were lost and then leave the site unchanged for others to experience.