namvet Posted December 10, 2012 Share #1 Posted December 10, 2012 Dozens of historic spitfires set to be dug up after they were discovered buried in the Burmese jungle could be flying again within three years, according to the man who spent 16 years searching for the planes. British farmer David Cundall, 62, spent over a decade and more than £130,000 of his own money working to track down the aircraft, after being told by a group of U.S. veterans they were buried there at the end of the Second World War. In January archaeologists will begin digging for the planes so they can be painstakingly packaged up and transported back to the UK for restoration, and Mr Cundall has said he believes the spitfires - which have been underground for 67 years - will take to the skies once more. Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz2EbrB3a9S One of the Spitfires (pictured: the tail fins) being crated up in Burma in 1945 ready to be buried at first i heard 140 fighters then 60. now 45. be intersting to see just how many Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rr01 Posted December 10, 2012 Share #2 Posted December 10, 2012 Good story and good luck to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted December 10, 2012 Share #3 Posted December 10, 2012 Not surprisingly, this story has attracted a lot of interest over here. If the Spits are there and are in recoverable condition after so many years buried deep within the moist Burmese soil, it'll have huge repercussions for the international warbird community. There's a whole industry in the UK devoted to restoring Spits to flying condition. Several specialized engineering firms work wonders with damaged or incomplete airframes. Where parts are missing or damaged beyond repair they fabricate them from scratch using original drawings and appropriate materials. The fruits of their labours can be seen taking to the air at Duxford every year. At the moment, the small number of flying Spits are worth up to £3,000,000 / $5,000,000 a piece. One wonders what the effect of a potential sudden influx of up to 30+ new airframes on their values will be? It maybe be that 30 or so recovered airframes will actually yield enough usable parts for assembling 15 airworthy examples? Either way, these are exciting times for the warbird community! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobrahistorian Posted December 10, 2012 Share #4 Posted December 10, 2012 I'm hoping we'll see some Mk IX Spits in 31st or 52nd FG markings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted December 10, 2012 Share #5 Posted December 10, 2012 Voila! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobrahistorian Posted December 10, 2012 Share #6 Posted December 10, 2012 Voila! SCHWEET! Always good to see a 52nd bird. I've got two groupings to 31st FG pilots and sadly parted with the 52nd FG grouping I had (it was a partial, broken up on ebay... ) I don't think there are any Spits currently flying in USAAF colors. It would be amazing if suddenly there were a bunch more Mk IXs out there! Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluehawk Posted December 10, 2012 Share #7 Posted December 10, 2012 May this come to pass, in my lifetime, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38Driver Posted December 10, 2012 Share #8 Posted December 10, 2012 I'll believe it when one actually show up intact. Note that the photo identified as one of the Spitfires being crated up is not true. The Spits supposedly buried are 14s. The spit in the image is a rounded rudder, fixed tail version which makes it a Spit V or possibly an IX. Odds are it's a Spitfire Vc being uncrated in the CBI. A Spit XIV would have a larger rudder and retractable tail wheel so the photo is a fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dag Posted December 10, 2012 Share #9 Posted December 10, 2012 Interesting story. This may be a dumb question, but why were they buried, and by who? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-17Guy Posted December 10, 2012 Share #10 Posted December 10, 2012 As we know, this is a story that has been develping for some time. I hold little hope for anything being in very good condition, after 65+ years of jungle rot. But, I guess, there's always hope. Best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namvet Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share #11 Posted December 10, 2012 Interesting story. This may be a dumb question, but why were they buried, and by who? good question. I heard the Americans buried them. but why??? one site claims to keep them from falling in the hands of Japanese. it was SOP to set em afire or blow em up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted December 10, 2012 Share #12 Posted December 10, 2012 The Fabric-covered control surfaces may well have succumbed to "jungle rot" but if the engines and other mechanical parts were given a thick coating of grease they might fare a little better...assuming of course the geo-phys reading isn't just a bunch of buried scrap metal rather than crated Spits.The suspense is killing me!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namvet Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share #13 Posted December 10, 2012 they found this wreck of a Stuka dive bomber on the floor of the Baltic Sea. and plan to restore it !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted December 10, 2012 Share #14 Posted December 10, 2012 All these guys need is half an aileron and they re-construct an entire airplane around it! To be serious, I've toured The Fighter Collection's restoration workshops at Duxford on many occasions. These guys can take a wreck and have it in airworthy, mint condition within a couple of years....seriously! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38Driver Posted December 11, 2012 Share #15 Posted December 11, 2012 good question. I heard the Americans buried them. but why??? one site claims to keep them from falling in the hands of Japanese. it was SOP to set em afire or blow em up This was either at the end of the war or right afterwards. It was supposadly done for potential future use, not to prevent the Japanese from getting them. They are supposed to be late mark Spit XIVs which didn't get to the Far East until late in the summer of 45 as the war was coming to a close. The wind has blown the story so near and far that I'd be happy if they found a couple of old Spitfire tires buried there. Anywhere from 30 to 140 Spitfires have been claimed with some suggesting Spitfire VIII are also in the mix. Again, I'll believe it when they find a crate, open it and show the world. I'm as big a dreamer as the next guy and would love for it to be true, but stories of buried airplanes have been around forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1Garandy Posted December 28, 2012 Share #16 Posted December 28, 2012 Looks like they may start digging in a little over two weeks: http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/SpitfiresExcavationDateSet_207904-1.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugme Posted December 28, 2012 Share #17 Posted December 28, 2012 Great story, now to find out if it's real or just another legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namvet Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share #18 Posted December 28, 2012 "they didn't want to take them home but also didn't want anyone else to use them" I don't get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king802 Posted December 28, 2012 Share #19 Posted December 28, 2012 "they didn't want to take them home but also didn't want anyone else to use them" I don't get it. The UK was bankrupt at the end of the War and had lost much of it's influence in the area - the decline of the Empire was imminant so it made perfect sense to deny any potential enemy their use, Burmha had been hostile to Britain and independance was on the cards. When they were buried the rapid decline of the Empire hadn't been forseen. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Andrews Posted December 28, 2012 Share #20 Posted December 28, 2012 Very few Spitfires in Burma -- or SEAC at large -- were anything OTHER than VIIIs. The VIII was a low-altitude, ground-attack-capable variant, vice any of the high-altitude, air-to-air or interceptor marks. The photo-recce XIX was the dominant high-altitude Spit in SEAC. The older, less-desirable marks were probably parked and little used by late 1944, as the active theater moved south and eastward toward Singapore, the Indies and Japan. Ground-attack duties could be handled (better) by Lend-Lease Thunderbolts and high-altitude to Griffon-engined Spitfires. Moreover, likely targets were fewer and fewer, and longer range, MULTI-engined aircraft took the lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted December 28, 2012 Share #21 Posted December 28, 2012 Wasn't there a story of a German WWI Gotha Bomber found in the Zuider Zee, when they were filling it land fill or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namvet Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share #22 Posted December 29, 2012 with housing needs growing builders are uncovering all kinds of relics. including mass graves. also powerful atlantic storms uncover relics A World War II U.S. tank that was part of the 1944 D-Day invasion force that recaptured France was discovered buried under a street at Chartres, 90 km southwest of Paris in 2009. The M5 Belonged to Company B 31st Tank Bn 7th Armored Division. Apparently, after being hit by a Panzerfaust in the right track, the crew got out alive, but had to hide for 3 days before getting to the lines of the 23rd Armored Infantry Bn.. After being abandoned the M5 was further demolished by Wehrmacht Engineers before they withdrew from the area. American Engineers bulldozed it into a bomb crater to get it out of the way. > The storms are sometimes good, the last storm on the Riviera helped make an exciting discovery. An M4 Sherman appeared in the sand of the beach Nartelle (Ste Maxime 83). It has been buried since the landings in the Provence in August 1944. The municipality of Sainte Maxime plans to save this historic shipwreck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted December 29, 2012 Share #23 Posted December 29, 2012 Looks like they may start digging in a little over two weeks: http://www.avweb.com...t_207904-1.html Everytime I read this story, the number of potential aircraft changes. Now they are down to just talking about 8, which is where I believe this all started from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king802 Posted January 10, 2013 Share #24 Posted January 10, 2013 Thing's are underway in Burma. Let's hope that all the effort will not be in vain. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20957162 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kration Posted January 10, 2013 Share #25 Posted January 10, 2013 Right up there with Santa Claus, the Locke Ness monster & bigfoot....Will believe it when I see one come out of the ground. Kration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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