Twenty iconic Spitfire aircraft buried in Burma during the Second World War are to be repatriated to Britain after an intervention by David Cameron. “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.” (www.telegraph.co.uk) More...
There are reputed to be a collection of US Wartime aircraft buried at an old Wartime RAF Station called Fradley Airport near Lichfield, Staffordshire, UK.
I hope Mr. Cundall has his "interest" in the value of the aircraft in writing backed by a good legal team or I see a pat on the back and a certificate of appreciation in his future. Imagine the scores of entities planning to take credit and/or ownership of this! Great story.
This guy spent a lot of money..he deserves to get it back plus......reckon collectors will be rushing around with open cheque books. Anyone? £1.5 million each?
This is truly exciting. Can you imagine what it would be like to come across a cache of other WWII aircraft in shipping crates and never had been utilized in the war effort.
It would be a dream come true , or maybe a Spielberg movie, if the planes were in perfect condition. However, I suspect the boxes are rotted and crushed from the weight of 30 to 40 feet of soil, and the aluminum (aluminium) likely misshapen and corroded. Maybe there will be enough good parts to reconstruct a few aircraft. As the engines are made of iron, a few bags of desiccant might be good for a few years, but 70? Needless to say, I hope I am unduly pessimistic, and I'm waiting anxiously for news.
When I flew for Air Micronesia there were some Japanese Planes in like condition found on some of the Marshal Islands and repatriated to Australia by some collectors.
Having been in TV broadcasting, I'm always thinking what would make an important television show. I think if an organization like the History Channel followed and taped the search details, the digging up, and if they're in good shape, the donation of one Spitfire to a Burmese museum, the shipping, the work back in the UK to get them flying again and maybe a flight or two with a camera in the cockpit and whatever else they could add, would be a presentation that no one would want to miss. Especially in the UK.
All those WWII materials were coated in Cosmoline and that was a "Tarpaint" it took many man hours to remove it, so I'm sure all those planes are "Mint"!
This has got to be the "best find" of the year ... An iconic symbol of WW II and possibly, nea rmint condition ? Pehaps if they were shipped in metal containers .. Can only imagine the impact it would have on the Queen, for her to see these again flying the skies of London !
Still, let's all hope that the recovery process will allow these wonderful old birds to fly at some point! (And perhaps, everyone will eventually do the right things by and for one another.)
I hope that Mr Cameron has the foresight to insure that at least one of these Spitfires join the ranks of the BBMF,so that future generations can appreciate and understand the sacrifice made by those young RAF pilots all those years ago.Due to there sacrifice we live in a free democratic country.I salute them all.
I hope David Cundall gets the just recognition he deserves for his tenacity with the Burma Spitfires.As normal everything now has to be funded from the "Private Sector).Perhaps this might come under the National Lottery as "Good Causes"??????
I hope they're still intact! Previous time capsule projects such as this haven't turned out so well... http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/16/us-timecapsule-car-idUSN1628272520070616 I suspect these buried Spits are probably rusted away, but if they were properly sealed from the elements then there's a chance they're alright.
According to propwash; "It's believed the 20 planes will be in near perfect condition as they were buried in their shipping containers waxed, wrapped in greased paper, and with their joints tarred." so it sounds like they really will be able to fly again!
These airframes are aluminium not steel!! and the engines were usually inhibited properly and then covered in thick silver foil with silica gel in large ( 1 lb cotton bags stowed around the engine and thoroughly sealed)
Anyway, given how these things usually go, they're probably water-logged rusty hulks. Hopefully that isn't the case, though and they're at least in restorable condition.
I used to look at Spit's flying around London when I was Kid and just the mention of the name 'Spitfire' brings back so many memories of the dog fights I saw and thanks to that plane we were saved from being destroyed buy the V-1. I had posted earlier that I hoped it was not an April fool's gag and I sure hope not but being English I am aware of the twisted sense of humor over there.
