(Photograph ©TIGHAR 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)

Dubbed “the Maid of Harlech“, this crashed P-38 Lightning must be one of Britain’s most enigmatic aircraft wrecks. In 1942, Second Lt. Robert “Fred” Elliot crash landed the American fighter on a beach near the 13th Century Harlech Castle in Wales. While the nose guns and other useful parts were removed, the P-38 was abandoned on the beach and subsequently covered by decades of shifting sand. In 2007, after 65 years, the Maid of Harlech reappeared. It is considered one of the most significant discoveries in aircraft archaeology and an effort has been mounted to salvage the historic fighter. Once again covered by sand, its exact location remains a closely guarded secret to keep souvenir hunters away while the preservation project ramps up. (Check out our main Maid of Harlech article.)

20 Spectacular Military Abandonments of the World	Abandoned Gun Emplacement, Midway Atoll	Downed F-117 Stealth Fighter, Kosovo War	Johnston Atoll: The World’s Most Isolated Military Airbase?
Pointe du Hoc: Abandoned German Coastal Defences near Omaha Beach, Normandy	Deserted Guam Northwest Field in the Marianas	Abandoned Military Runway, Bulgaria	Mothballed Sea Shadow Stealth Ship, Suisun Bay
Abandoned Control Tower: RAF Coleby Grange, UK	Abandoned Radar Dishes, RAF Stenigot, UK	Abandoned Midget Submarines, Aberlady Bay, Scotland	Wreck of Russian Battlecruiser Murmansk, Norway
Russian Surveillance Ship Wreck, Red Sea	Abandoned Chieftain Tank, Lulworth Firing Range, UK	Crash Landed (Intact) B-17 Flying Fortress, Papua New Guinea	Derelict Hawker Hunter at Former Airfix Factory in Hull, England
Dismantling Vulcan XM652 at RAF Waddington	Crashed Harrier GR3, Goose Green, Falklands	Russian Aircraft Graveyard, Moscow	Wrecked F-4 Phantom Jet, Hanoi