Spitfires Buried in Burma

"Someone really likes to play Indiana Jones, ha?" - that was my first impression when I've read about it last week :)
 
The team arrived yesterday in Yangon to start looking for them - one batch might be under the runway at Yangon Airport according to the international media.
 
It's a fantastic story.

After the Maralinga Atomic Bomb testing in rural South Oz during the early 1950s a whole batch of new Landrovers were buried because they were contaminated.
I don't know if they were ever dug up.
('Who'd dig up a buried Landrover anyway?' I hear people say!)
 
After seventy years in the ground I wouldn't expect to find anything but dust. Even if it was encased in Spam.

But I loves me a dig-it-up adventure! Especially with another Donald Trump dickwad involved. Tosser!
 
Just Bob said:
After seventy years in the ground I wouldn't expect to find anything but dust. Even if it was encased in Spam.

But I loves me a dig-it-up adventure! Especially with another Donald Trump dickwad involved. Tosser!
Click to expand...

But it would seem they were buried crated and wrapped.. Plus being worth a couple of million restored adds to the push.
 
Yeah, buried with true loving care by bulldozer drivers who didn't want to be there. They'd have been crushed down and pulverised, is my guess. I'd love to be proven wrong.... but I doubt I will be
 
(Bgk Post today)

Crate find lifts hopes of Spitfire hunters


  • Published: 9/01/2013 at 02:45 PM
  • Online news:"







" A British-led excavation team hunting for dozens of rare Spitfires in Myanmar said Wednesday they were confident about recovering the World War II-era planes after finding a crate buried in the ground.

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Project leader David Cundall stands in front of a Spitfire at the Imperial War Museum in London on November 28, 2012. The excavation team hunting for World War II-era Spitfires in Myanmar said Wednesday they were confident about recovering the planes after finding a crate buried in the ground.

Project leader David Cundall, who has compared the rumoured hoard to the 1922 discovery of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb, said a box found in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina appeared to contain man-made objects.

The researchers have inserted a camera into the crate although they have so far been unable to confirm the contents because of muddy water obscuring visibility.
"That's very encouraging. That's the sort of image that I would expect to find. We've gone into a box, but we have hit this water problem. It's murky water and we can't really see very far," Cundall said at a press conference in Yangon.

He said he was "very optimistic" about the team's chances of success and better photographic evidence could be available within weeks.
Britain, the former colonial power in what was then Burma, is thought to have buried the brand new planes in 1945 as they were surplus by the time they arrived by sea.
The 21-strong team believe there could be 36 of the iconic single-seat British fighter aircraft in sealed crates up to 10 metres (33 feet) beneath Yangon airport, a wartime airfield, in the Mingaladon district of the city.

Cundall said the team believed there were a further 18 in Myitkyina and six in central Meiktila, based on eyewitness accounts and earlier surveys.
"I'm confident that we will find Spitfires either at Mingaladon or Myitkyina," he said.

There are thought to be fewer than 50 airworthy Spitfires left in the world and the digs, which have excited military history and aviation enthusiasts around the world, could potentially double their number.
Cundall said a survey was currently being undertaken at Yangon airport to ensure there are no modern-day obstacles like electricity cables and the team hopes to begin excavation within days.
If successfully excavated, some of the Spitfires are expected to be returned to Britain, which ruled Myanmar until independence in 1948. "
 
Hope Fades in Burma Search for Buried Spitfires

A quest to unearth dozens of British Spitfire aircraft thought to be buried in Burma looks likely to come to an unsuccessful end in October, with monsoon rains hampering excavation efforts as the two-year search contract’s expiration nears.

More here: Hope Fades in Burma Search for Buried Spitfires
 
If you reading this thread you may be interested to learn that Alan Peart DFC who flew in Burma and had one of the most frightening experiences when he was attacked by about 30 Jap planes, is not only still alive but is about to fly in a Spitfire again on Sep 28 (2014) (He'll be a passenger)

Alan is a truly remarkable person and I feel very priveleged to have met him. One of the few surviving NZ Air Ace's of WW2.

This link will give a little more info. He has written a very interesting book about his experiences

Aircrew Book Review: Hostile Company - Alan Peart DFC in action
 
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