The Mysterious Abandoned Plane in the Bahamas

Take a look at this picture.

This picture was stumbled on by Steve as he was working on his Bondtastic Locales project.  He was visiting this page about Nassau.  When he saw the caption for the picture said it was an abandoned plane used in a James Bond movie, well thus began the Mystery of the Abandoned Plane in the Bahamas. Now these tangents are fun, and frustrating.  So much is learned, and so many little golden nuggets of joy are gleaned, but as Steve puts it, "If it weren't for...tangents like this, I might actually have been finished with the file a long time ago...but that's half the adventure, heh heh."

Here's what we've done on the search.  The very first plane I thought of was a Jetstream.  But the tail doesn't match this plane.  Looking at the tail and the windows we are leaning towards this plane being a DC-3.  However, the only DC-3 we can think of being used was in Quantum of Solace (filming of the plane chase was in Mexico).  So if it was that plane then the mystery deepens, because the paint job is different (all silver in QoS) not to mention the whole "How in the name of Q did it end up in Nassau?" question that is lingering.

However, as much as we think it's a DC3, the angle of the shot, the foliage, the shadows, the damage to the plane, and the small size of the photo make it very difficult to say absolutely that it's a DC-3.

So we looked at what movies were filmed in the Bahamas to see if we could pin point something that was used that would have been abandoned after filming was done...or was left in the Bahamas and eventually abandoned.  Here are the films that actually filmed in the Bahamas:

1. Thunderball
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. Moonraker
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. Never Say Never Again not officially canon, but cannot be ruled out since the Nassau site didn't specify that it was a canonical Bond film
6. Casino Royale

From there we looked at the Wikipedia list of aircraft used in Bond movies and the Air & Space Magazine list of airplanes used in all 22 Bond films.  Both lists were helpful, but the Air & Space Magazine list didn't include pictures.  So that led us to wonder about their entry of a DC-3 used in Goldfinger.  However, I know Goldfinger used the ATL-98 Carvair to take his car from England, and that Carvair was actually a heavily modified DC-4.  So is that a misprint?  I don't have a copy of Goldfinger available to scan through and see.

So back to the list of movies filmed in the Bahamas.



Thunderball
Wikipedia lists the following:

1. Avro Vulcan - A Delta Wing jet strategic bomber
2. Boeing B-17 - A 4 engine prop driven bomber from WWII
3. Bell 47 - a light helicopter.

Air & Space Magazine listed the preceding planes as well as:

1. Bond's Rocket pack
2. Sikorsky S-62 Seaguard - a Marine helicopter
3. Skyhook Rescue System

Obviously we can rule out the Vulcan and the helicopters.  We can also rule out the B-17.  That bomber was heavily fortified, and there is no evidence of gun ports or guns.  Also, while it's hard to see much of the plane, it looks too small to be a B-17.

There is one plane from Thunderball I would like more information on.  The plane the Frogmen jump out of before the big underwater battle.  You can see it in this video at the the 4:31 mark (the video starts at the 4:29 mark).  But here's a screen cap:

I just don't know what that plane is.  We need a better look at it to rule it out, but I'd also like to know what plane they jump out of.

The Spy Who Loved Me
 Wikipedia actually listed nothing for this movie.

Air & Space listed the following:

1. Bell 206 - Helicopter
2. Westland HH-3 Sea King - Helicopter
3. Wessex HC Mk 2 - Helicopter
4. Parachute
5. Undersea-to-air missile
6. Polaris missile 

So we can rule this movie out as the source for the mystery plane.

Moonraker
Wikipedia listed the following:

1. Handley Page Jetstream - Turboprop plane
2. Space Shuttle
3. Lockheed L-188 Electra - Prop driven transport plane
4. Condorde
5. Boeing 747

Air & Space Magazine added the following:

1. Bell 206 - Helicopter
2. Prop-powered hang glider
3. Parachutes
4. Globes filled with nerve gas heading for Earth
5. Men in EVA suits
6. Drax’s “space station”

The  Jetstream was the very first plane I thought of.  The windows of the mystery plane actually match up fairly well with the Jetstream, but the tail of the Jetstream is narrower than the mystery plane.  The L-188 Electra is another prop driven plane.  However the windows and tail don't match up with what we can see of the mystery plane.  All other entries don't match up to be considered.

For Your Eyes Only
Wikipedia lists the following:

1. Bell 206 - Helicopter
2. PZL Mi-2 - Military Helicopter

Air & Space added the following:

1. Cessna U206G Stationair Amphibian seaplane

The mystery plane is not a helicopter, so that rules out the two Wikipedia entries.  Air & Space lists a Cessna, but that isn't either.  The U206G has the wings on the top of the plane, the windows are much larger, and the plane is shaped far differently than the mystery plane.

Never Say Never Again
No entries in the list from Wikipedia.  However Air & Space Magazine lists the following:

1. XT-7B flying platform
2. Rockwell B-1A Lancer
3. C-130
4. Additional cargo aircraft, possibly a C-17
5. Cruise missiles
6. Sea-to-air missiles 

The flying platform is fictional.  The B-1A Lancer is a modern jet driven bomber that doesn't match the picture (plus it's obviously a model used in the movie), and the 2 cargo jets are far to big to be our mystery plane.


Casino Royale
 Wikipedia lists nothing for this movie.  However Air & Space Magazine listed the following:

1. Boeing 747
2. MD 600N - Helicopter
3. Airbus A340-600 - Stand in for the Skyfleet S570 Prototype
4. De Havilland Canada Twin Otter Seaplane

Obviously we'll rule out the Helicopter, the 747, and the Airbus.  But looking at it, we can rule out the Seaplane.  The Wings are at the top of the plane, and the windows don't quit match up right as a result.

So striking out on any of the planes used in Bond films that were filmed in the Bahamas, I started to go through the movies one by one.  I also took a very close look at the picture.  If you get in and look really closely you can see that the perspective of the tail fin is such that I'm really convinced that it isn't centered on the plane like the DC-3.  I think it's sticking out, as if it had a dual tail fin design.  I can't be certain because of the image, but that could be the case.

So here are the options we've come up with that may or may not be this mystery plane:

1. DC-3 from Quantum of Solace.  Damaged (possibly crashed) and painted differently.
2. The DC-3 that was supposedly in Goldfinger
3. The Beechcraft Model 18 from Octopussy
4. Possibly a plane used for one of the Bond films that was used, but never appeared on screen.

So if anyone has any ideas on what this plane might be, I'd love to hear from you.  I was convinced it was the Beechcraft Model 18 until I looked at the windows.  Now, I'm not so sure.  What I do know, is we need a very rich sponsor to fund our research into this mystery plane.