Iconic Airplane Wreck In South Iceland Riddled With Graffiti, Polish Media Reports

One of Iceland’s eeriest landmarks—the wreck of a Douglas DC3 in South Iceland—has prompted outrage in Polish media, but locals are unfazed.

Fréttablaðið reports that the iconic plane, oft visited especially for photo opportunities, has supposedly been the subject of controversy on the Polish television station WP. Reporting on Iceland, it was pointed out that plane is covered in graffiti, and reporters were quick to point out that some of it was in Polish.

While this was framed as a matter of shame, locals are decidedly more blasé about this. The airplane, which has been resting at this spot since 1973, has been the target of both graffiti and gunfire for decades now.

Benedikt Bragason, who owns the land upon which the wreck rests, was decidedly shruggo about the state of the airplane.

“People have been scrawling on this plane or shooting it for decades now,” he told reporters. “It’s just a wreck, and I think [the graffiti] is completely harmless.”

The plane, which first took to flight in 1944, took off on the afternoon of November 21, 1973 from Höfn in southeast Iceland en route to Stokksnes with supplies for a radar station there. However, the plane’s wings began to ice up, prompting an emergency landing. It landed on what was then an icy river, and while it broke the ice, it did not sink. Inexplicably, the US Navy opted to simply abandon the plane, and it has remained at its current location ever since.