Tragic photos taken after tragic plane crashes

Plane crash sites have produced some of the most haunting photographs in aviation history, capturing wreckage scattered across mountains, fields and entire towns.

Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed into a mountain ridge in Japan in 1985, claiming the lives of 520 of the 524 people aboard, while Pan Am Flight 103 was destroyed by an explosive over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, scattering debris across hundreds of square miles and claimed the lives of 270 people.

These photographs document the devastating aftermath left behind when a flight ends in catastrophe.

Pilot Victor Vizcarra, after being evacuated from a jungle landing site. After ejecting, his flame-engulfed F-105 fighter-bomber passed beneath him as he parachuted and crashed into a mountain. Vietnam, 1966.

Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong floats safely to the ground after the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle he was piloting crashes during a rehearsal of a lunar landing, Ellington Air Force Base, 1968

Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong floats safely to the ground after the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle he was piloting crashes during a rehearsal of a lunar landing, Ellington Air Force Base, 1968

Blimp crashes due to nuclear test in Nevada, 1957

NASA crashes a fully fueled Boeing passenger jet, with crash dummies as passengers and pilots. The knowledge gained leads to major changes for flight safety. (album and video in comments.) Mojave Desert, 1984

“I remember flames… I remember screams.” An Italian MB-339 crashing into the crowd during the Ramstein Air Show, killing 67 and injuring more than 500 – Germany, 1988

Photograph taken by local resident Valencia McClatchey approximately 1.5 miles away from the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 minutes after it crashed in a field near Shanksville, PA on the morning of September 11th, 2001.

Edna Cintron seen waving from hole created by Flight 11 crashing into WTC on Sept 11, 2001.

The aftermath from a B-25 bomber crashing into the Empire State Building (1945)

Damage to the Pirelli Tower in Milan after a Rockwell Commander 114 plane crashed into it, 18 April 2002. Three people were killed, including the pilot.

14-month old Thai infant rescued from the crash site of Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on September 3rd. Of the 66 people onboard the aircraft, the infant was the only survivor. – 1997

Crashed B29 Superfortress

A Spanish police officer guards the wreckage after two Boeing 747 airliners collided and burned that kill 583 people on the runway of Tenerife Los Rodeos Airport in the Canary Islands, Spain 1977

Wreckage from Pan Am Flight 103 after it crashed onto the town of Lockerbie in Scotland, 22nd December 1988

RAF personnel inspect the wreckage of a downed Messerschmitt somewhere in southern England during the summer of 1940.

Crash site of Plane #66, A C47 hit by AA fire killing the 5 crew, 1st Lieutenant Thomas Meehan and 16 other paratroopers of Easy Company, 506 PIR, 101st Airborne. Photo taken by Sgt Forrest Guth, along side members of E company and 82nd Paratroopers who found the wreckage on June 6 1944

The wreckage of the Turkish Airlines DC10 which crashed into the Ermenonville forest outside Paris, March 3rd 1974. The plane was traveling so fast it just disintegrated. At the time it was the worst airline disaster on record.

Falling wreckage of 2 planes that collided while watching the SS France in Quiberon Bay, photo taken by a passenger of the liner. 13:58, July 30, 1998

The wreckage of the “Hindenburg” the morning after the disaster, 5/7/37

Wreckage of helicopter on Pan Am Building helipad, which left five people dead on May 16, 1977 in New York City

Dec. 16, 1960, The wreckage of an airliner fell onto a street in Park Slope, Brooklyn

Parents of pilot-cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky, his father Fyodor and his mother Klavdia, listening to a television report about their son’s space flight, 14-19.06.1963, Moscow oblast or Moscow, the USSR

USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) aflame on her aft flight deck following a Japanese kamikaze attack on 30 October 1944.

A photo of the aftermath of the bombing of Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108. All 23 people on board were killed. The bombing was the first attack on civil aviation in North America, Quebec, 1949

Photo of United Airlines Flight 175 just a mere second before hitting the south tower of the World Trade Center. September 11, 2001

Air France Flight 358 overshot the runway at Pearson International Airport (YYZ) bursting into flames. All passengers and crew were evacuated successfully, Toronto, Ontario, 2005

PSA Flight 182 goes down in flames over San Diego, September 25th 1978

Damaged WW2 plane photographed mid-flight from above.

A flight group of Valkyrie aircraft, moments after a photoshoot gone wrong that led to an in-air collision, 1966

A cloud of black smoke fills the air after an Airbus A320 crashes to the ground during an air show, killing 3 and injuring 50 of the 136 occupants. This particular flight was the A320’s first passenger flight, and its first fatal crash (Habsheim, France 1988)

Crash landing Hellcat This image shows a Hellcat that has crash-landed on the desk of the USS Enterprise. The pilot incredibly surprised the burning aircraft without significant injury despite the burning fuel tank seen at the bottom of the plane. November 10, 1943.

A MiG-21 after crashing into an East German apartment building on January 14th, 1975. The plane crashed as a result of engine failure, and 7 people including the pilot would die as a result.

Wreckage of a passenger airplane in Mashhad, Iran, on July 24, 2009. 17 people perished. Photo by Mahdi Ghorbani/Reuters

Wreckage of Japan Airlines flight 123. Over 500 people perished.

Tragic wreckage of the Air India Flight 182 in 1985.

Korean Air Lines Flight 007, a civilian airliner, was shot down by Soviet interceptors on September 1, 1983.

Air France Flight 447 wreckage being recovered from ocean after the 2009 tragedy. Over 200 lives were lost.

Iran Air Flight 655, a civilian jet airliner, was shot down by US missiles on July 3, 1988.

The wreck of KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736, which collided the previous day above Santa Cruz De Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands, claiming 580 lives.

The wreckage of American Airlines Flight 587 burns November 12, 2001.

Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 plane wreckage from 2013.

Andras Kisgergely captured this photo of Air France Concorde, seconds before it crashed into a hotel in Gonesse, France, on July 25, 2000.

the wreckage of a passenger airplane in Mashhad, Iran, on July 24, 2009. 17 lives were lost.

The Tenerife airport disaster that sadly claimed 583 lives.

Hijacked Xiamen Flight 8301 (1990) collides with 2 aircraft at Baiyun Airport, China. 128 people perished.

DAS Air Cargo Flight 405 (2000) overran runway into Lake Victoria at Entebbe Airport, Uganda

In 1974, Pan Am Flight 806 crashed on approach to Pago Pago International Airport, claiming all 97 lives on board.

The wreckage of FedEx Express Flight 14 after the fire was extinguished.

American Airlines Flight 191.

On 20 September, 1989, USAir Flight 5050 crashed during an aborted takeoff from LaGuardia Airport. Pilot error. Consuming the lives of 2 out of the 63 on board.