During one of my explorations, I came across an abandoned aircraft in Denmark. It was clearly in bad shape—heavily damaged and scattered across the site. The engine was completely missing, the tail was broken, and what really caught my attention was an ejection seat lying about 10 meters away from the main hull. It almost looked like it had been ejected right there. Adding to the scene, there were pieces from what seemed like a second aircraft nearby, though it wasn’t clear if they were part of the same crash or something else.
As always, part of the fun for me in urbex is the research. Finding a place or, in this case, an aircraft, is only half the experience. Figuring out what it was, where it came from, and what happened to it—that’s where it gets interesting. So, standing there among the wreckage, I started taking note of the details. The wings had a shape that initially reminded me of a Mustang P-51, but that didn’t seem to fit with what I knew about Denmark’s aviation history. The fuselage looked sleeker, flatter, and the damage made it difficult to get a complete picture. It definitely seemed like a military aircraft from the post-WWII era, though.
From history, I remembered that the Danish Air Force received several surplus planes after the war. Specifically, they got 38 Supermarine Spitfire H.F. Mk IXE fighters and three photo-reconnaissance Spitfire PR Mk XI aircraft between 1947 and 1948. These were flown by the Army Air Troops and the Naval Air Service before they merged into the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF). The Spitfires were used up until 1956, after which they were retired, with most of them scrapped. The PR Mk XI in particular was used for photo-reconnaissance missions, capturing aerial images for mapping and intelligence purposes, which was important during the post-war rebuilding efforts.
Looking at the wreckage, it started to make more sense. The pointed wings and the slim, streamlined fuselage pointed more toward the PR Mk XI variant of the Spitfire. This version of the plane was built for high-altitude reconnaissance missions, flying without weapons but fitted with cameras and extra fuel tanks for longer range. It was a practical workhorse in its time, and the Danish Air Force used them for a handful of years. Seeing the wreck in person, though, was a stark reminder of how far removed that era is now.
It’s moments like this that make urbex so interesting to me. You find something unexpected, and it sparks this whole process of trying to connect the dots. Standing there among the wreckage, I thought about how these planes once flew over Denmark, helping to map the country and keep it secure during a tense period of history. Now, all that’s left are scattered parts, slowly fading away. While I couldn’t figure out the full story of this plane, I feel like it might’ve been one of those Spitfire PR Mk XI aircraft. If nothing else, it’s a little piece of history left behind, waiting for someone to notice it.
