15 year search for 20 buried new Spitfires is over

[KAL SPL]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/burma/9204921/British-farmers-quest-to-find-lost-Spitfires-in-Burma.html


Keen to see pics once extracted :)

[POH73]

I was following this last week when David Cameron was going to formally request permission to recover them - awesome stuff.
It's a pity there's not some Lancasters buried there too along with some BF-109s and FW-190s, it's astounding how few are left considering how many were produced.

[KAL SPL]

Pretty crazy to think there is only 35 left flying in the world and they have the chance to get another 20 in the air , possibly more if the stories turn out to be true.

[-Luke-]

WOW!

[SimonR32]

Will be awesome to see them if they are in decent nick!

[ryanr32]

is it a case of finders keepers or will the government try and claim them as there own?

[mav_vlt]

out of 21,000 produced - only as many as 55 remain in the world? that is incredible. i really hope they get permission to take them home and restore them to flying condition

[Buckets]

This is utterly awesome !

[ossie_21]

Awesome story, can't believe the bit about pushing them off the back of carriers into the ocean! Can't see things like that happening these days

[winstor]

Would be fucking awesome to be able to put one of those together!

[pgc]

Owners of the flying ones will be spewing that their resale values have just....

...taken a dive.

YYYEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

[Buckets]

Awesome story, can't believe the bit about pushing them off the back of carriers into the ocean! Can't see things like that happening these days

What do you think happens to decommissioned modern military aircraft ? They get mothballed then converted to drones and used as target practice or sold for scrap. Very few make it to a museum or private collection.

[Anaru]

Awesome story, can't believe the bit about pushing them off the back of carriers into the ocean! Can't see things like that happening these days

Standard practice, even had 'one time use' escort plans on some ships that were designed to be ditched after flight.

A lot of the time it Came down to saving 50 lives versus keeping a plane. As in some theatres there wasn't enough boats to for everyone when they had to fall back or exodus. That's nothing close to when Brittan decided to sink half their naval fleet.


wow didn't think I knew much about war history but there you go.

[TJ]

Burma - Cakes dad will probably keep them

[ossie_21]

Well then, I stand corrected!

[mr_rotary]

Awesome story, can't believe the bit about pushing them off the back of carriers into the ocean! Can't see things like that happening these daysThey where doing the same thing with Hueys towards the end of Vietnam war too to make room for civilians they where evacuating.

Good read about the Spitfires. Was also coverd in the paper yesterday. Reminds me of my grandmother telling me of stories of burried caches of weapons in Holland durring the war.

[Scaf]

All i can think about is that time capsule car they buried in America in the 50's, dug it up 50 years later and it was completly water logged and rusted to bits.. someone out there will know what im talking about. I hope these planes come out in better condition, will be amazing to see them come up.

[mr_rotary]

All i can think about is that time capsule car they buried in America in the 50's, dug it up 50 years later and it was completly water logged and rusted to bits.. someone out there will know what im talking about. I hope these planes come out in better condition, will be amazing to see them come up.
http://www.rioleo.org/belvedere.php

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-RYHfXBGnBVI/Rnc0SsZDIkI/AAAAAAAAAX8/R-KcM_HXvIA/s413/07_01.jpg

[yeahlow34]

All i can think about is that time capsule car they buried in America in the 50's, dug it up 50 years later and it was completly water logged and rusted to bits.. someone out there will know what im talking about. I hope these planes come out in better condition, will be amazing to see them come up.

Can only go by the picture above, but that looks like simple surface rust.
Generally if metal is buried deep enough, it won't rust too badly.
You need oxygen for rusting/corrosion to occur. So the deeper buried, the less effect.
So hopefully the planes are in OK condition!

[ReaperSS]

I really hope they do a doco about this!

[HANS YOLO]

Awesome story, can't believe the bit about pushing them off the back of carriers into the ocean! Can't see things like that happening these days

the yanks did the same thing with Huey Helis when departing Vietnam

edit...just read the above :)

[KAL SPL]

Can only go by the picture above, but that looks like simple surface rust.
Generally if metal is buried deep enough, it won't rust too badly.
You need oxygen for rusting/corrosion to occur. So the deeper buried, the less effect.
So hopefully the planes are in OK condition!

It wasn't just surface rust , the car was literally ready to fall to pieces , it was beyond saving according to most stories I reason it.

Scaf I had the same first thought recalling the buried car.

[Ryan1080]

It wasn't just surface rust , the car was literally ready to fall to pieces , it was beyond saving according to most stories I reason it.


Are you sure it wasn't just covered mostly in dirt? This pic looks like someone tried to clean the bumper:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ZmkMAKlkeXE/Rnc0gcZDIzI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/a-7Ngfc_C2Y/s477/07_14.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-PetOqvoBnxI/Rnc0h8ZDI1I/AAAAAAAAAaE/hDyLjqi6Y-A/s477/07_16.jpg

[KAL SPL]

The chrome bumpers I think we're the only bits that survived.

[KAL SPL]

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-2938880.html

Yup chassis rooted ... BUT !

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/05/06/hemmings-collector-car-radio-episode-16-de-rusting-miss-belvedere-why-cash-for-clunkers-doesnt-work/

[wormbo2]

Car buried AS IS.
planes buried wrapped, tarred, etc. Possible that the metal would only need minor blemish treatment, etc?

[Riggs]

There is a vid around of when they dug the car up, beforehand Boyd Coddington said he would give it a spruce up if it was a bit untidy. The look on his face when they pulled the rags of it was very much a do not want.

[-Luke-]

Even if they aren't able to be recovered as airworthy aircraft (which fingers crossed they are) they should at least be able to supply useful spares for the remaining flying Spitfires.

[magic1]

planes were alli

not steel

[KAL SPL]

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x127/KAL_SPL/Cars/078d1a85.jpg

:)

[shifted]

Looks like my ford.

LOL

[KAL SPL]

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2011/11/25/famous-fighters-dumped-in-hole/?utm_source=rss+qt&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS+distribution

Related !!!

[wormbo2]

planes were alli

not steel

yeah, but it'll still rust if you don't look after the paint!!
would there be any degradation of the aluminum then? Eg: lime scale/brittling, etc?

[yeahlow34]

yeah, but it'll still rust if you don't look after the paint!!

Aluminium corrodes.

The buried car looks in extremely good condition. Doesn't look heavily degraded at all.

[Denver]

I'm Willing to bet some if not most or all will be in close to ready to put together conditon, given they've been under ground, where packed and protected for transport in the first place, and in theory should have had little oxidization going on under ground..

depends if the crates have caved in i guess, tho im guessing they must have a pretty good idea of the condition of them if they're willing to fork out half a million pounds to dig them up..

[DISTRBD]

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x127/KAL_SPL/Cars/078d1a85.jpg

:)


Looks great in that last pic , much better then a multi coloured 15

[DRKWRX]

hmm im not sure....... Burma is pretty tropical? 70 years underground? gonna be a bit of moisture!

[BIGS]

Mk14 the finest evolution of the spit in my eyes!! Awesome story.

[crabman]

They where doing the same thing with Hueys towards the end of Vietnam war too to make room for civilians they where evacuating.



So that explains the snippets I saw in a documentary once of plain clothes people pushing choppers off of the sides of ships, one even half running and bouncing up and down real weirdly.

Are there any documentarys purely on these events then people know of?

[evoeata]

So that explains the snippets I saw in a documentary once of plain clothes people pushing choppers off of the sides of ships, one even half running and bouncing up and down real weirdly.

Are there any documentarys purely on these events then people know of?

Have a look for docos about the fall of Saigon. Will be plenty of footage of it.

[BIGS]

Seen numerous footage of aircraft being pushed off American aircraft carriers, usually hell cats and corsairs.

[mr_rotary]

So that explains the snippets I saw in a documentary once of plain clothes people pushing choppers off of the sides of ships, one even half running and bouncing up and down real weirdly.

Are there any documentarys purely on these events then people know of?

Vietnam in HD
Third disc is what you need to watch. Documents the fall of Saigon and why it happened. The whole series (3 discs 1 1/2 hours each) documents how it all started and finished.

http://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-HD-Blu-ray-Edition-Various/dp/B005BSCPCM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334723341&sr=8-2

[mav_vlt]

Awesome story, can't believe the bit about pushing them off the back of carriers into the ocean! Can't see things like that happening these days

iv herd stories of this happening off Perth after ww2 etc as well

[MrMayhem]

In Oz mainly happened with trucks, once the war was over it was in the supply contract from Ford/ Chev etc that military trucks would be destroyed so there wasn't a post war surplus killing the market once it was all over. That being said I know a couple of people with brengun carriers that were sold after the war as tracked tractors for farming. Same with the Catalinas that were flying from Perth to England via India once war was over they were destroyed by agreement

Seeing the F111s being buried is ridiculous, on one hand sad on the other wasting the materials.

After the war you could buy a Mustang for $5k theres alot still flying for that reason bought for air racing 100s of the Packard built Merlins made in the USA being sold super cheap ended up feeding the speed boat craze.

[-Luke-]

Some of you fellow airplane geeks may find this site interesting


http://joeidoni.smugmug.com/Aircraft-Crash-Sites

[GTiR1080]

there is supposedly another story of the same thing happening over in eastern australia. And its all being documented to.
http://www.brokenwings.com.au/

[JBAE]

english electric lightning! mother fuckker gets me hard! amazing bit of gear! especially considdering when it was designed! its ascent rate was pretty much unriveled up until one of the F-16 variants i believe?? even then only just if i recall correctly

[KAL SPL]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4309662/Crash-landed-RAF-warplane-found-in-Sahara.html

Related and very very cool !

[ossie_21]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4309662/Crash-landed-RAF-warplane-found-in-Sahara.html

Related and very very cool !

That's awesome!! Still spins me out how something like that can go unnoticed for so long, even in somewhere so desolate & even though it would blend in pretty well from above. So it makes it a bit random how they mention they don't want it stripped by tribesmen, when it's obviously been there for so long & it's probably been untouched for all of those 70 years.

[MrMayhem]

Depends who were with them when they found it

[shifted]

Would they attempt to restore something like that? It has a lot of history and to be honest - I couldn't care less for planes but the find has amazed me, it looks fantastic for how long it has survived!

[KAL SPL]

Update :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219112/Dozens-spitfires-buried-British-Burma-WWII-excavated-following-16-year-hunt-aviation-enthusiast.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239771/Dozens-WWII-spitfires-buried-jungle-Burma-flying-years.html

[GA70TT]

My old man was telling me they used to dump old Harley's and cars behind rottnest after the war, but because it was over the shelf it's too far down to be dragged up ...

Surely if they can see the titanic then we can drop a line down behind rotto to see what's there

[KAL SPL]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264361/No-Spitfires-buried-Burma-decades-long-hunt.html

Oops !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21074699

[wormbo2]

So are there any planes or not??!
This kind of find would be monumental for the aviation history of the world, would be disappointing to have it all be a sham.

[ReaperSS]

Not the same dig but pretty interesting...
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0PjLpqWFFEo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[ReaperSS]

An original story..
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uBLJ_Sebarg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[-Luke-]

I was really hoping this would take off and they would find the planes, was really expecting it to get off the ground.

[Chivalry]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/18/spitfire-search-burma-draws-blank


Such a shame, the guy is so enthusiastic about it and would be great to see an event like this. I hope he finds at least one of them. :(

[ossie_21]

That awkward moment when you think you're 1500km off target... Started out as something quite far fetched, yet if it was true would be something really incredible. Simply for the personal money invested you hope he finds what he's looking for, otherwise...oh snap :/ would be less awkward as if the cables are above the planes in the exact location they attempted :p

[KAL SPL]

I was really hoping this would take off and they would find the planes, was really expecting it to get off the ground.
Seems the story was dead and buried long time ago !

[ossie_21]

Seems the story was dead and buried long time ago !

Maybe they will question the witnesses again & see if they can dig up any more dirt looking for information?