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spitfires discovered in the Burmese jungle


namvet
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well the article claims Cundall says they are looking in the wrong place

"Earlier this month, a crate was discovered in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, but muddy water stopped an immediate identification of its contents."

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AAF_Collection

Just my take on this,but from the outset of the story appearing in the UK press I've been sceptical about the existence of these Spitfires,mainly due to the lack of solid research to back up the story. The production history of the Spitfire has been researched in detail,but I've yet to see any specific aircraft serials being quoted for the aircraft which it's claimed were buried.

 

I know I'm in the minority here,but even if the story were true,and although I love classic aircraft I just can't get excited about the prospect of several very late war Spits which never saw action,especially when around the globe there are so many even rarer types which should be preserved yet which go largely un-noticed,in the UK we have a C-54 sat in the open on a private airfield slowly deteriorating,it's the only one of it's type here and the C-54 played an important role in WWII in Europe,yet no one seems too concerned,but given the prospect of yet more Spitfires everyone starts wetting themselves and the press go into hyperdrive!.

 

If we want a truely historic Spitfire we have one,R6915 at the Imperial War Museum is a veteran of the Battle of Britain and still wears it's original late war paint!.

 

Now here's a project I am excited about,and it's not a myth or a story http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford/things-to-see-and-do/dornier-17-conservation.aspx

 

I could go on ranting,but won't!

 

Matt.

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AVFLASH NEWS bluetabcorner.gif

January 18, 2013 No Spitfires Found At First Dig Site In Burma

By Glenn Pew, Contributing Editor, Video Editor

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An internationally supported expedition to Burma to dig up Spitfires thought to be buried there after the close of WWII is quickly drawing skepticism as it has so far found none after one week digging at a primary site, Mingaladon airport. The project's mastermind, British farmer David Cundall, believes there's still hope. Cundall had found eyewitness support of his theory that the British military packed more than 120 Spitfires in crates and buried them in the ground before vacating Burma more than 60 years ago. His evidence drew the assistance of David Cameron and cooperation of the Burmese government in arranging permission for a dig. But after one week digging at Mingaladon airport (now Rangoon International Airport), and with one witness, a 91-year-old British veteran, in attendance, archeologists Wednesday suspended the search on lack of evidence. Counterclaims and alternate theories of explanation are beginning to surface, including one from another witness. Cundall expects to continue.

 

 

In a letter published on Jan. 9, by TheTimes.co.uk, Lionel Timmins claims to have served with RAF 81 squadron from August 1946 through February 1948, spending time at Mingaladon "for a substantial part of each year." Timmins states he "neither saw anything of the burials nor did I hear any rumors, which I believe there most certainly would have been had the aircraft been buried." Tmmins wrote at the time that the steel interlocking plates of the airport's then runway could account for the search's initial indications of buried metal. The search itself has since turned up cables and pipes, as well as metal plates used in construction of the earlier airport's runway. It had expected to find as many as 36 Spitfires carefully packed in crates for storage and buried in good condition at the location. Some skeptics now believe witnesses may have confused burial of the planes with the disposal of other equipment while Spitfires were assembled or disassembled nearby. Cundall's project had acquired funding from Wargaming.net, an online gaming company, and the project's spokesman, Frazer Nash, has said the team will continue its investigation at two other sites in Burma.

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