Supermarine Spitfire

The last paragraph of Martins clipping is interesting

NJR;101224 wrote:

The last paragraph of Martins clipping is interesting

ISTR that PA474 has Lincoln Rudders + U/C legs and also she was resparred with Shackleton main spar sections in 1995

Given the opportunity there are aircraft enthusiasts amongst the population who would love to be involved in recovery and preservation locally.

Rotting away? Then why did he say “They were just buried there in transport crates,” Mr Cundall said. “They were waxed, wrapped in greased paper and their joints tarred. They will be in near perfect condition.”

“I’m hoping the discovery will generate some jobs. They will need to be stripped down and re-riveted but it must be done. My dream is to have a flying squadron at air shows.”

But they are already stripped down and in near perfect condition.........

Doncha just luv good journalism?

Royal Air Force Operations: Airmen prepare a Supermarine Spitfire Mark VIII of No 607 Squadron for a sortie during moonsoon conditions at Mingaladon, Burma.



Courtesy of Imperial War Museum © IWM (CF 660)

A bit more to add to the story -

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/...tfires-in-Burma.html

A short insert into last night's BBC One Show featured Steve Boultbee Brooks,

I had subtitles on and it reported that '... 20 Spitfires have been located buried in Birmingham'

Auntie BBC again! Oh Dear.

Birmimgham ? I'll get me spade...

Oh.....perhaps the BBC is correct and the Daily Telegraph report incorrect. That would account for the statement 'rotting in a foreign country'

Personally, i'll believe this when i see it. Look at what happened when the yanks decided to bury this 1957 Plymouth Belvedere in a 'time capsule' when it was brand new.

www.unburiedcar.com/

www.allpar.com/history/auto-shows/time-capsule.html

it didn't really happen !!!!

Cars produced in the '50's were 'rustbuckets'. The quality and reliability which we expect and receive nowadays did not exist then. Ford cars in Britain earned the epithet 'Dagenham Dustbins'!

To expect a 1957 car to stay in near original condition after recovery from a burial pit would require a hermetically sealed vault.

The difference between a buried airframe and a car is that an airframe is made from light (aluminium) alloys whereas a car (of that vintage) was made from pressed thin gauge steel. In my experience, aluminium alloys resist corrosion better than steel but a lot depends on the soil.

Reference the account of the six 'carefully buried' Lancs in a quarry near Elsham Wolds airfield after WW2, twenty two years later, does anyone know how far Dr. Keith Percival-Barker progressed with his project - ? A Google search of Elsham Wolds airfield history makes no mention at all of the buried Lancs, even as a rumour or legend. And I can't see that if anything had happened that it could have have possibly slipped the notice of the aviation world.