Plane Crash in a School

Thursday, 23rd August 2007 by

Nestled amongst the buildings of a technical college in Antwerp is a F-84F Thunderstreak fighter-bomber. But how did it get there?

The Belgian airforce had around 197 of the American built F-84Fs, and the story goes that this one, serial number FU-36, crash-landed here around 40 years ago. Then, when somebody decided to build a school here - rather than moving the aircraft out of the way - the buildings were built around the plane!

Check out these fantastic HDR photographs of the aircraft.

However, personally I think the story is a little far-fetched. Even if you accepted that the builders wouldn't just move it out of the way, what's the chances that Belgium would just abandon one of their fighters?

I searched high and low for mention of FU-36 on the web, and found several conflicting reports of its location and status. Some sites do indeed describe it as "abandonded", but others describe it as "preserved at a Tech School".

One site even claims that "this is one of several aircraft that languished on Belgian military airfields" which would imply to me that, at some point, this plane was decommissioned and stored away on an airfield. Perhaps before being donated to the school?

Anyway, enough of this "investigative journalism" - the crash-landing story is way more fun!

Thanks: asfaltkonijn via Timdc