**Diving the Dakota DC-3 in southern Turkey** There is no dramatic background story of our airplane wreck in Turkey. It served as a transporter for parachutists in the Turkish air force, and was donated to local dive centers after retirement to act as new artificial reef, and as a new dive attraction, of course. The sinking of the airplane at its final resting place happened on July 1st 2009 and was performed so smoothly that the DC3 lays now fully intact on the sandy seabed. It appears like it is just getting ready for its next take off. There is not much around the wreck, only sand and a little sea grass. This “isolation”, however, boots the visual effect when approaching: when swimming to it, you first see only a dark shadow; the closer you get, it turns more and more into a huge plane. The engines, wings, cockpit, rudder and landing gear are all intact. A big door at the main hull, where the parachuters used to jump off the plane, provides access to the inside of the “Dakota”. The main cabin is quite empty but if you swim to the direction of the cockpit you can explore the working place of the navigation officer and the cockpit itself. There are lots of details to explore in the cockpit, and youll get an idea about working places of pilots 78 years ago – almost back to the roots of aviation For more information visit; diveadvisor/sub2o/now-thats-a-huge-aircraft-diving-the-dakota-dc3-in-southern-turkey
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 11:52:31 +0000