OK guys, thank you for spending some time on this. I agree that this does indeed look like a Hudson and it was good to get that independently verified from you! :eagerness:
Since that is out of the way, I´ll give you my hypothesis on what we are seeing, bearing in mind that this is only educated guess work on my behalf!
On the 27th of March 1945 Hudson serial FK743 of 251 squadron Coastal Command was on its way back to Reykjavik after a weather recce when it crashed into a mountain side in Southwestern Iceland – killing all four crew members. The aircraft was found by the RAF and the bodies taken for burial, but the aircraft was left where it had crashed. The aircraft was not heavily damaged and there was no fire – the front of the fuselage had taken the worst of the hit and was badly mangled, but the rest of the aircraft looked undamaged. Eyewitnesses that went to the wreck the next summer said it was kind of eery seeing what appeared to be an almost complete aircraft sticking out of the side of a mountain.
In 1993 I visited the crash site and both engines were there, absolutely unbroken, so it kind of supports the eyewitness account about the aircraft being relatively undamaged.
The aircraft was left at its crash site for some years – the place was isolated and few people ventured there. At some point, the wreck slid part of the way down the slope. At some point after 1950 (I´ve been told in 1951-1953) the prices for scrap metal got really high in Iceland, and the local entrepreneurs started viewing the WWII wrecks with increased interest. This one was relatively close to Reykjavik and though not easy to get at, it was possible. I´d been told that they went to collect the wreck in winter by driving trucks and 4×4 (jeeps) on the snow. When they got to the wreck, the method of disassembly was to blow it apart with dynamite and then collect up the pieces.
When I first saw these pictures, I was astonished! The only thing I was not sure about, was if this was the aircraft I had in mind. That´s why I posted these pictures here, to confirm the aircraft type. FK743 was the ONLY Coast Command Hudson in the late war livery to crash in an area similar to what is seen in the pictures. So if the aircraft can be positively identified as a Hudson – then we know which one it was.
I hope all of this makes sense.
Regards,
Sigurjon
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