There are always mixed feelings when deserted and forgotten things are discovered. There’s that feeling of joy derived from finding something abandoned, which can end up becoming useful. But then there’s the sadness that comes from knowing that someone knowingly neglected the item and never bothered about it or its whereabouts ever again.

Take away the feelings and truth are, a lot of people abandon things for different reasons. Sometimes, it could be that the abandoned item means nothing to the owners again or, they probably couldn’t afford to keep it around.

And speaking of affordability, in some cases, some wealthy people abandon their “expensive stuff” for no just cause. These days, it’s not a big deal to discover abandoned buildings, left to decay to dust. But seeing an airplane rot all alone on some beach is one rather intriguing sight to see. Matter of fact, it’s too intriguing to the point that some of these airplanes have ended up being tourist attractions.

Granted, the cause of the abandonment of some of these airplanes were terrible. Some of the airplanes were affected by human-made mistakes such as crash landings and they were left to rot right at the spot of the crash.

And it’s not just toys for the wealthy that have faced such neglect and ended up attracting tourists in the long run. Company airplanes and even army jet fighters have similarly faced this fate. And in this post, we will look at 20 images of these airplanes that turned their neglect into a tourist magnet. So read on.

20 A Lockheed T2V-1 Lost in The Woods Of New Jersey

This airplane may be dumped and abandoned in the woods today, but it was once a powerful Lockheed T2V-1. Before it encountered the terrible crash that left it abandoned in the woods of New Jersey, it was a training plane for prospective and new pilots.

After the crash incident, this plane was left alone in the woods surrounded by large mahogany trees and cheered up by thick green leaves that assured it of better days. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been any better day for this abandoned airplane, as no one made any attempt to recover it. The only good thing is the fact that it became a center of attraction for tourists in New Jersey.

19 A Boeing 737 Dumped in Bali

The Boeing 737 is a respected airplane in the world of aviation. For this 737, it’s last respect was given in the last minutes before its abandonment in Bali. This plane was left and abandoned in almost similar circumstances to the Lockheed that was lost in the woods of New Jersey. According to the story behind it, in 2007, the pilot in charge was forced to have an emergency landing because the poor thing lost one of its engines.

Luckily, the pilot and his crew landed safely without anyone getting injured. And in a rather weird gesture, the pilot and the crew members were rescued but the airplane wasn’t. However, it took the hand of interested tourists touring Indonesia to keep it alive in the books of history.

18 Prematurely Deserted In Kazakhstan

In a verge of trying to take the cold war to space, the Soviet came up with the space shuttle. Unfortunately, things took a bad turn for this spacecraft as it was set aside after one flight. Presently, the Buran program- which refers to the ruin of the spacecraft, was abandoned to rust in the steppe of Kazakhstan.

Despite the abandonment, it soon became a site that attracted tourists. However, for you to tour this area, you have to be quite adventurous because it isn’t opened to the public.

17 Aborted and Deserted In Florida

The hovercraft in this picture is another uncompleted or failed aircraft project that didn’t see the light of day. And just like the one before, it was left for Mother Nature to make use of it. And what’s more disturbing, is that this was a US Navy asset.

The abandoned hovercraft was left to rot in a former US Navy base, which is located at the south of Jacksonville, Florida. The only good thing that came out from this aircraft is the fact that it later became an awesome piece of art for tourists to view.

16 The Grass Is Greener On This Air Force Ventura

It’s almost hard to believe that the abandoned airplane in the picture was once a New Zealand Air Force PV-1 Ventura. If this airplane were human, it would be treated as a veteran because it was used in the WWII. But today, it looks like something that has never flown before, how much less for the WWII.

On the brighter side, this plane wasn’t just wasted and abandoned. Some of the parts were salvaged and made to good use in some other plane. But once that was done, the vegetation around the plane found good spots to inhabit, and the tourists around this area found that as an exciting sight to see.

15 Twins Deserted On an Airfield

If you take a good look at this picture the first thing that may come to your mind is, “are the identical airplanes about to go head to head?” Well, it’s not what it looks like exactly. Both of these airplanes are no way close to identical – at least model-wise. However, they sort of ended up looking similar because the same air flight company owned them.

And one more thing, they were both abandoned by the same flight company at the same time.

They were left in the airfield because the owners of the flight company went broke and couldn’t pay their debts and taxes. So, they decided to drop everything in this airfield.

14 Aircraft Sheltered But Dumped

When you love something, you take care of it, show love to it and do all you need to do to keep it safe and protected. Well, if the airplane in this picture was given a mouth to talk it may not agree that “love” exists in the world. Why? The poor thing was dumped and left without any form of shelter over its head, away from the knowledge of anyone in the public.

Matter of fact, the aircraft was found by another flying object like itself – a drone. The drone’s owner was doing a tour around 2 kilometers away from his location, when he found the airplane abandoned and lonely. The owner of the drone notified the public about his discovery and it became a tourist center.

13 Plane On the Beach

Two decades ago, an airplane was brought down by the Mexican army. The airplane in question was a Columbian Narcoplane that was used in transporting and smuggling illegal merchandise. The pilot was told to surrender, but he turned deaf ears to the warning of the Mexican army. So, the Mexican Army shot it down and left the pilot running on foot for his life.

Ever since the plane was brought down, it has remained partly buried in the Mexican beach, accepting its fate as time goes by. After all, it has no choice. Apart from water and sand that have been the immediate companions of the airplane, tourists have come to love the sight of this “rogue plane”.

12 Another WWII Plane Forgotten In Iceland

The south coast of Iceland received a big gift on its black beach during the WWII. A WWII plane was left abandoned in the beach, and it has never been recovered to date.

It was obviously a crash that led to the situation this airplane found itself in. Thankfully, everybody on board survived. The other good news is that the plane chose a good place to land so that it would later serve as a tourist attraction. You can choose to take a tour of the plane and take pictures for references. The only issue you may encounter here is the fact that vehicles are prohibited. But if you don’t mind an hour distance and a bit of hiking, then you’d enjoy the tour.

11 Air Canada Airplane Dumped In Garland, Canada

If you take a good look at the airplane in the picture, you will notice that it has two “R” inscriptions on it. It simply means that the Air Canada airplane is from the Rolls Royce division. The rust and dust that appears to be the order of the day on this plane is also something you’d notice. Clearly, this airplane has been in this position for a long time.

From the look of things, someone planned to turn the plane into a house, but the plan was terminated because the plane was vandalized. It was at this point that the plane became an abandoned project. Regardless of the state of this airplane, tourists visit and take pictures.

10 A C-54 Plane Deserted In Alaska

This C-54 Sky Master plane took off from the Ganes Creek and it was on its way to the Fairbanks Airport. Inside the airplane was a cargo that was supposed to be dropped off before noon, the next day.

It seemed like an easy task initially, but all didn’t go as planned as the engines experienced a terrible failure when it had just gone past the 10 kilometers mark. The terrible failure led to an explosion. This event caused the left wing of the C-54 plane to detach, and the plane headed straight for the rocks. At the end of it all, the crew onboard survived without a scratch. But the plane could not be salvaged, so the plane became an attraction for tourists.

9 C-121 Lockheed Dumped In Antarctica

Going to south Antarctica may help you understand or make you have an idea of what the C-121 Lockheed went through the moment it was left and dumped in this cold region. Looking at the plane would get you thinking how it got there in the first place and why.

As for the “how?” the airplane got to this cold region because it encountered a crash. The crash brought it to the icy landing strip. And just when you think the crash was the end of the plane, the peeps who knew of this story decided to change the plane’s name from C-121 Lockheed to “Pegasus White Ice Runway.” Maybe, this was a sign that the remains of the airplane would make a mark. Eventually, this abandoned plane became a colossal attraction for tourists.

8 The Douglas DC-3 Abandoned in Croatia

Initially, the Douglas DC-3 was a renowned air force carrier. The USSR also used the airplane during WWII. The fact that this airplane carried out such vital functions in the past gives you an idea of how important it was.

Unlucky for the plane, the once important item became an object of rejection when it was shot down during an air strike. When this happened, the airplane landed on the Croatian border, and it has remained there ever since. It wasn’t the end of the plane though because nature revived its past glory and it became an attraction for tourists.

7 This Airplane Turned into A Canvas In Canada

This tourist site would interest people that appreciate graffiti on walls or love drawing them. It’s a nice place to visit because it shows how an abandoned property can turn out to be an embodiment of art that draws the attention of tourists.

It was not the plan from the onset because the airplane was overloaded with cargo and passengers. Due to the overload, the plane was forced to land on the rocks not long after it took off. Thankfully, the airplane landed safely on the rocks of Churchill in Canada. No lives were lost, and artists decided to make the most of the remains.

6 Deserted Airplane Perfect for A Hollywood Thriller

One look at this airplane and you’d be convinced that it’s not just a perfect site for tourist attraction but a fantastic scene for a sci-fi thriller in a Hollywood blockbuster (on this note, we should call Steven Spielberg on this one).

On the 16th of August, 1974, during the United Nations Buffer Zone, this plane was abandoned at Nicosia International airport in Cyprus, when a cease-fire was announced. This announcement was made after the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey. This site still exists today as the remains are on the Island of Cyprus.

5 A Curtiss Kittyhawk P-40 Dumped In The Desert

I’m pretty sure the Sahara desert wasn’t expecting any surprises, but in 1942, Mother Nature felt that a little change wouldn’t be such a bad idea when the Curtiss Kittyhawk P-40 crashed unto it. The good news is that the crew came out alive even though the Kittyhawk P-40 was shattered into several pieces in the desert sand after the accident.

With the way it played out, there was nothing anyone could do about it other than leave it to become a tourist attraction. Today, the one-time accident became a blessing because the abandoned remains of the airplane have become a center of attraction for tourists that visit Egypt.

4 Former Air Force Plane in Australia

This site might interest people who are huge fans of Ford motors. If you are one of these people, all you need to do is visit Australia, and you may be excited about this abandoned Ford 5-AT-C. I’m sure you’re wondering when the company ventured into building planes right? Well, let’s just say it was one of the projects they embarked on that turned out quite unsuccessful.

The reason why the Ford airplane was unsuccessful was that it wasn’t sturdy enough. It was evident when it went out for its fifth fly and lost one of its engines. The moment the plane lost its engine, it headed for Australia’s woods. The plane landed as safely as it did thanks to the Hero in pilot clothing. There was just one serious injury, but 17 passengers and two pilots survived. And as a heritage, tourists flock this site every other day.

3 A Douglas DC-4 Is Deserted at The Gila River Memorial Airport

This story might make a lot of sense to you if you’re quite familiar with the privately owned airport that was built in 1942 – The Gila River Memorial Airport. An early warning though – this story may seem a bit confusing since the name of the airport has been changed more than four times.

So, we are sticking to the name that the airport had when it was bought over by the Gila River Indian community in 2007. And at that time, the airport has a Douglas DC-4 airplane in it. This airplane was just one of the few airplanes that were abandoned. Presently, there’s no development so far, but the abandoned plane has become a remarkable site for tourists to visit.

2 This Swearingen SA-226T at A Hanger in New Jersey

It’s hard to picture a time when this abandoned airplane was a Swearingen SA-226T, being boarded by a significant number of people – almost in the hundreds, and doing trips around the globe. Right now, it’s just a shell probably being habited by a few small animals. The airplane was doing fine until it crash-landed when it attempted to land in an airport in New Jersey.

The airplane was abandoned after the crash and left for spiders to spin large webs in it and small insects to get trapped in them. It appears that the spiders weren’t the only ones that were interested in the abandoned plane. Some individuals were also there to further vandalize the abandoned metal, and some just couldn’t resist the urge to put Graffiti art on it. In the end, this Swearingen became a tourist attraction.

1 This Bell P39Q AirCobra Deserted On a Lake In Russia

The Bell P39Q AirCobra had a good career because it experienced a whole lot of events since it was a popular airforce flyer. The plane was used regularly during the WWII.

For this particular Bell, its career came to an end when it was shot down. The severe strike forced the airplane to land under the Mart-Yavr Lake in Russia. It stayed in this lake for about six decades before it was discovered in 2004 and it was left to stay afloat. There was no casualty when the accident occurred, according to records. Luckily, or unluckily for it, it landed in a place where organisms and animals in the lake had a new toy to play with. This view turned the plane to a beautiful site for tourist attraction.

References: NBCNews.com, Yeahmotors.com, Hotcars