Worrier WWII warplane Douglas Dakota DC-3 sunk off the coast of Mediterranean and now !!

This Douglas Dakota DC-3 once flew at altitudes of 8,000ft, but now it lies 70 feet beneath the surface of the Mediterranean. The 65-foot-long plane, which was used as a transporter for a Turkish paratroop regiment, was deliberately sunk in waters off Kas, Turkey, in July 2009, and has become an underwater playground for divers. Rico Besserdich, 46, of Hamburg, Germany has dived the wreck more than 50 times.

A diver swims next to the wreck of a Dakota DC-3 which was deliberately sunk off Turkey to create an underwater playground for divers

‘As the underwater visibility is often poor at the site you have to dive quite deep before you see the plane – as you get closer it looms out of the darkness.’ The sunken plane, with its 30-metre wingspan, now acts as an artificial reef and provides shelter for a wide variety of marine wildlife. A diver explores the 20 metre-long plane, with its 30-metre wingspan

Douglas DC3 cockpit once upon time to Barracudas occasionally drift past the coral-encrusted twin propeller engines. So do divers!

Shrimp gobies live in the cool sand in the shadow of the plane and occasionally barracudas drift past the coral-encrusted twin propeller engines in search of food. ‘Wrecks act as artificial reefs which makes them interesting to scuba divers,’ said Besserdich. ‘You usually expect underwater wrecks of all kinds to be broken into pieces. This airplane is more or less fully intact which makes it seem even stranger.’

Courtesy : Daily mail