60 Spitfires to be dug up in Burma
 

My eyes nearly popped out of my head as I was reading this article..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/w...-in-Burma.html

What an absolute dream this would be to see some of these in the sky again.

No mention of them flying, but an amazing find all the same. I suppose that would be too much speculation until they excavate them and see what condition they are in. If they've properly preserved then the airframes will have the hours:norty:

Aye the blokes sun was on Chris Evans this morning. He says the plan is to get some in the air.

His what?

You know - the sun :thumb: hth?

The spherical one or the paper one?

Amazing find. It doesn't say what type of ground or climate they were buried it. That would make a big difference to there current condition. It sounds like they were buried in pieces (crated) so I would hope they come up without too much deterioration.

This report quotes as many as 140 in several locations, all crated.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asi...muI/story.html

Imagine the sight of a squadron of Spitfires flying overhead.

Fantastic find. Although owners of the Mk XIVs will have just seen their investments decimated :Suspiciou

Stupid question: how do so many planes get buried in one location?

At the end of the war it was quicker and cheaper to bury the rubbish rather than try and dispose of it or ship it back to the UK. No-one had any cash to anything other than dispose of stuff and the fact they were sealed means that someone may have had it in the back of their mind that they'd go back one day and pick them up - buried thy would be safe from looters:thumb:

Amazing story, as already mentioned wouldn't it be fantastic to have a squadron of them up and flying :thumb:

Remember my grandad telling me they pushed loads of planes off the back of aircraft carriers at the end of the war. Cheaper to dispose of them at sea than ship them back to blighty.

Sad really but these sound almost like someone took some care with it so you never know...

I hope they are still air worthy would be great to see/listen.

It would make them a bit cheaper to buy too!

I have seen as many as 6 all at once at the Goodwood revival meeting and you see the occasional Hurricane as well as the Lancaster.

I nearly had the chance to fly the Rolls Royce Spifire once, it was all set up but fell through for unfortunate reasons at the last minute. One of my big disappointments in life as you might imagine.

Les :(

my father served with the RAF in burma/india during the war as an 'armourer'. I remember him telling me, that at the end of the war they left everything - just piled into an aircraft and went home !!

Great story and let's hope at least some of them are in reasonable condition.

Agree with Les that seeing 6 of them in the air at the same time was incredible, imagine what seeing many more would be like.

Let's hope we hear more about this soon :thumb:

I remember when this was first announced in the news last winter, it was thought at the time to be between 12 and 20 Spitfires, all waxed up and buried in their shipping crates. I'm glad the go ahead to recover them has now been given.

Here's a cracking vid showing them in their shipping crates, I love the choice of music too..

Aparrently they have had borescopes into the crates and have confirmed they are still in very good condition.

I'm glad to hear he won his battles with Brooks. He had a bit of a fight on his hands to get recognition for his efforts after Cameron and Brooks tried to screw him over.
The story of his legal fight was in the news earlier in the year.

http://news.discovery.com/history/wo...ne-120502.html

What an amazing find, I heard Chris Evans on about it this morning too.

Exciting stuff. :norty:

must agree, personally knowing nothing of the "great war" i still love these aircraft. i know little of there role or effect but i still admire them.

never seen one fly in the flesh but truly would like to at some point. IC engines powered these, right? still admire the ability back then to overcome fuelling issues i could see presenting themselves.
but its probably there look/prescence i admire most. hope they are salvageable and displayed again to the public.

If you ever get the chance to see one flying you MUST go.
It's not so much the sight of it but the incredible soundtrack, better than a Scooby on full throttle !!

Their role and effect was almost incalculable in the early days of the war, the only allied fighter the could go toe to toe with the German bf109

Slightly hampered by rather poor armament, and you are correct the engines did suffer from carburettor issues in some manoeuvres due to fuel starvation

The German planes did not, due to being fuel injected

It was not just what they actually achieved but also the symbolic act of fighting back is hard to underestimate as a moral booster in those dark days of 1940

All 25 are unused and still to be fully assembled - as delivered from the west bromwich factory - and crated up in tarpaper fully greased etc so they should be in good nick.

Current going rate 2.5-3.5 m for an airworthy one - an investor has agreed to fund the recovery of them if he is allowed to buy them at £1.5m each - still need assembling being made airworthy certified etc, so I don't think it will pull the prices down too far and besides I know if I could afford one I wouldn't be interested in the investment value I'd just want to fly it (and maybe stroke it when no one was looking ;))

Like you do the Bentley no doubt :Suspiciou

WW2, Jef.

Anyway, fantastic story!

Don't be silly

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With the Benters, I butter myself and rub up against it (only been arrested 3 times so far...)