At least those Spitfires were buried to preserve them. When Japan surrendered, whole escort-carrier-loads of brand-new, factory-fresh Navy Corsairs and Hellcats were just pushed over the side into the Pacific. The Navy already had thousands of them; with the war over, why carry them out to the Far East just to have to bring them home? So they were dumped into a watery grave by the dozens. Makes you weep just thinking about it now.
}:-)4
Met an airforce vet who spent some time with an air refueling detachment at Midway in the 60’s. Said there were crates on top of crates of brand new Allison V-12 engines sitting along the flight line. Totally bagged & cosomolined. Order came down to “push them into the lagoon”. UGH! What a waste!
Agree. What a waste. But then again in the postwar, if you could buy a Corsair at the Army-Navy store, would Piper Aircraft ever had a chance?