dont know if this is a repost? but this looks a interesting find if it turns out to be true http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9203822/Spitfires-buried-in-Burma-during-war-to-be-returned-to-UK.html
I'd be surprised if they come out in good condition, remember the buried Cadillac that was supposed to be preserved, when it came out it was near scrap! Edit, Plymouth sorry, not caddy
That would be something! My grandfather was an aircraft engineer in the war. I've always had a spot for the Spitfire. I'm going to be optimistic about the condition of this find. It's pretty awesome anyway!
It's amazing the amount of equipment that was buried/hidden during the war. The most common bit was the large RCA AR88D radio receivers that were dumped in rivers and a few years later after the war recovered by locals, dried off and they worked! Mind you they weighed around 100lbs and they were amazing built bits of kit, in fact mine is still working today with only a few minor repairs to leaky old oil-filled capacitors. Not bad for a bit of wartime kit built in 1943.
I can't find any pictures of my AR88D but here's some of my R1155 (as used in Lancaster bombers) it was a direction finding radio that came with a larger R1154 transmitter. The radio operator could lock into signals by direction finding enemy radio stations. It was a very sophisticated setup in a Lancaster bomber with many antennas and rotary driven dynamo power supplies. I won't bore you or show you the 115 page manual lol This one is complete with it's original packing crate and was made in 1943 (still works)
I have been keeping an eye on this since January, There was fears the Americans, Japanese and Australians would get to the finds first, I would not be suprised if one of the those country governments would want a part of the finds. Another problem would be scavengers, so the finds would have to be rescued quickly. There was a Curtis Kittyhawk found recently in near perfect condition the day it crash landed in Sahara desert belived to have been flown by a pilot called Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping. The single-seat plane was discovered by Jakub Perka, a Polish oil company worker, who was exploring a remote region of the Western Desert in Egypt. The location is about 200 miles from the nearest town. Historians want the Government to act quickly and have the scene declared a war grave so it can be protected from local scavengers before it is recovered. Flt Sgt Copping, the son of a dentist from Southend, Essex, went missing when flying a damaged Kittyhawk across Egypt for repair. It is not thought that any of his immediate family are left in Britain. A good place to go is Duxford Air museum, in one of he hangers, I think number 3 or 4 have WW2 planes being restored. I saw an engineer rebuilding a merlin engine. Amazing!!
update,looks like the digging will start shortly http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2258511/British-team-land-Burma-start-digging-lost-Spitfire-squadron-jungle.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Already got one, don't need another. The best "Hot Hatch" made during the war, a bit tail-happy though. lol Hopefully being mostly ally they will be in better nick than that Plymouth!
Thought I'd add closure to this thread. Bit of a sad ending. http://news.sky.com/story/1053172/burma-spitfire-mystery-is-solved
That is disappointing to hear, remember hearing about this on Chris Evans breakfast show months back. What a shame.