Spitfires buried in Burma during war to be returned to UK

[daftandbarmy]

The new Battle of Burma: Find 20 buried Spitfires and make them fly

Historic planes buried in Second World War are to be shipped back to Britain after their mystery locations were discovered

War leaders did not want them to fall into foreign hands when they demobilised in 1945 

Hidden in crates at a depth of 4ft to 6ft the RAF then forgot where they were


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2129520/The-new-Battle-Burma-Find-20-buried-Spitfires-make-fly.html#ixzz1s1WR1uu6

 

[Danjanou]

Spitfires buried in Burma during war to be returned to UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9203822/Spitfires-buried-in-Burma-during-war-to-be-returned-to-UK.html

Twenty iconic Spitfire aircraft buried in Burma during the Second World War are to be repatriated to Britain after an intervention by David Cameron. The Prime Minister secured a historic deal that will see the fighter aircraft dug up and shipped back to the UK almost 67 years after they were hidden more than 40-feet below ground amid fears of a Japanese occupation

More on link

 

[Sigs Pig]

Was posted here this morn...

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/64325/post-1134634.html#msg1134634

ME

 

[daftandbarmy]

Was posted here this morn...

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/64325/post-1134634.html#msg1134634

ME

I can't believe it, D&B finally beats Danjanou to the post... this is going in my velveteen diary. 

 

[bick]

With any luck, pictures will be released showing the removal.  Kind of like the ones with the T34 in Poland (Ukraine?)

 

[turretmonster]

20 "new" Spits, Mk 14's by some unconfirmed accounts. A Sqn of Spits for airshows after restorations. 

Reading anything about Spits not involving crashes just makes my day.

I'm looking for a good set of Mk 2 landing gear that are still intact for my project.

TM

 

[Danjanou]

I can't believe it, D&B finally beats Danjanou to the post... this is going in my velveteen diary. 

The wife had me out gardening all day smartass  8)

20 "new" Spits, Mk 14's by some unconfirmed accounts. A Sqn of Spits for airshows after restorations. 
TM

Airshows?  The way the Brit defence budget is going these years, they'll probably be the RAF's only front line squadron.  :

 

[daftandbarmy]

The wife had me out gardening all day smartass  8)

Airshows?  The way the Brit defence budget is going these years, they'll probably be the RAF's only front line squadron.  :

The father of a friend of mine - Gordon Lewis - won an AFC in a Hawker Hunter, flying in the Radfan I think: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Necrothesp/List_of_recipients_of_the_Air_Force_Cross_(United_Kingdom)_since_World_War_II#cite_ref-gaz42231_12-11

I remember him being very critical of the amount of money being spent to buy fewer and fewer super performing aircraft, and this was in the early 80s. He was pretty adamant that they should have lots of aircraft that were 'good enough' (like the Hawker Hunter in the 1960s-70s) versus a few that were the 'very best', then spend money upgrading the 'good enough' aircraft in an incremental way as the technology advanced, and train the 'lots and lots' of pilots accordingly.

 

[TN2IC]

I would love to see some pictures of this recovery. Kind of reminds me of the MIGs the Iraqis had during OIF. Same idea, I guess.

 

[HollywoodHitman]

This is awesome - LOVE the Spit, to the point I have a pretty big one that I fly, always scared to crash at my R/C flying club....Can't wait to see some pics.

 

[YZT580]

Now here is a bit of good news.  Evidently the British buried up to 160 Spitfires (don't know the Mark number) in Burma way back in 1945.  They are still in their shipping crates and are said to be in excellent condition.  Ground support aircraft anyone?

 

[YZT580]

Here is the link, I forgot to put it in

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/102637--british-spitfire-planes-to-be-dug-up-in-myanmar

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Not sure where it is here, but we've already got a thread going on this item.

Milnet.ca Staff

 

[GAP]

I think it was originally in the history section

 

[The Bread Guy]

Stand by for merging ....

Milnet.ca Staff

 

[Maxadia]

New info...

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/search-for-lost-spitfires-in-myanmar-may-have-hit-a-snag-1.1119547

 

[jollyjacktar]

Or they may not be there to begin with.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264361/No-Spitfires-buried-Burma-decades-long-hunt.html