Supermarine Spitfire

Have a read of this Simon tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/1991Vol_7/0702.pdf I wonder if they did follow up.

I had a good belly laugh but, let's see what the excavation reveals!

Peter isn't it basically next door to you, you could go along and watch for the laugh.

I was referring to the buried Lancasters and the follow-up statement saying the scan now revealed that all the aluminium had corroded away leaving only a Lancaster shaped cavity.

Just imagine being given an order to 'Round up a few guys and bury that Lancaster'

I am sceptical about the Burmese dig. I do believe that there are buried aircraft but have doubts about their condition. We shall see.

okay so its not buried, but a great story www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/...HS-B-Discovered.aspx

Thinking back to the discovery of the B.24 'The Lady be Good' under similar circumstances some years ago, the magazine 'After the Battle did an excellent article on the whole story, including the fate of the crew members, most of whose bodies were eventually found. I have been told that when flying over relatively flat desert terrain at night, especially if the pilot is tired or disorientated, it can give the impression of being over water, thus leading to a false idea of one's location.
It does make you wonder what else is still out there waiting to be found though, eh - ?

kebecker;101948 wrote:

okay so its not buried, but a great story www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/...HS-B-Discovered.aspx

I take it this aircraft has been recovered ?
A good friend of mine trekked across North Africa in the early 80's and he came across 3 abandond WW2 aircraft and one had the remains of its pilot layed under one wing.
I did see the pictures of the aircraft but it was a long time ago so I cant say what they were but they all single seat fighters.
Steve

Article on MSN news:
news.uk.msn.com/world/lost-spitfires-to-be-recovered

Lost Spitfires to be recovered

Burma has signed a deal with a British aviation enthusiast to allow the excavation of dozens of vintage Spitfire fighter planes that have been buried since the Second World War.

The British Embassy said that the agreement was reached after discussions between president Thein Sein and David Cameron during his visit to Burma earlier this year.

Aviation enthusiast David Cundall discovered the locations of the planes after years of searching. The planes are believed to be in good condition, since they were reportedly packed in crates and hidden by British forces to keep them out of the hands of invading Japanese.

Excavating is due to begin by the end of the month. Htoo Htoo, managing director of Mr Cundall's Burma partner company said: "It took 16 years for Mr Cundall to locate the planes buried in crates. We estimate that there are at least 60 Spitfires buried and they are in good condition.

"This will be the largest number of Spitfires in the world," he said. "We want to let people see those historic fighters, and the excavation of these fighter planes will further strengthen relations."

The British Embassy described the agreement as a chance to work with Burma's new reformist government "in uncovering, restoring, displaying these fighter planes."

"We hope that many of them will be gracing the skies of Britain and as discussed, some will be displayed here in Burma," said an embassy spokesman.

Burma has since last the past year turned away from many of the repressive policies of the previous military government and patched up relations with Western nations that had previously shunned it.

Mr Cundall's quest to find the planes involved 12 trips to Burma and more than £130,000 pounds.

I wonder. The usual way of disposing of unwanted gear at this time was indeed to bury it. Usually after running over it with a heavy vehicle like a tank. I'll reserve judgement until I see 10 of these all lined on the flight line ready to go. I read somewhere that these were dumped by the USMC as the British supply train was run by the Americans as part of their tail.

There were some P40's found still in their crates in the Solomon Islands I think a few years back but their condition was poor and they were only fit for static exhibition.

There have been so many stories about stuff being found which turns out to be a squib. Tighar had an investigation running for years on buried / sealed / hidden German aircraft from the end of WW2 but couldn't find a thing.

REF;112988 wrote:

Article on MSN news:
news.uk.msn.com/world/lost-spitfires-to-be-recovered

Does this article say anything different from the one six months ago in post #1 of this thread ?