Posted on 04/17/2012 9:15:55 PM PDT by Sarajevo
It’s like something out of an Indiana Jones film, if you take away the religious overtones and ophidiophobic adventurer. After 15 years, a British farmer’s quest to find a squadron of legendary fighter planes lost in Burma during World War II has finally paid off.
Lincolnshire farmer David Cundall, 62, has spent £130,000, traveled to Burma a dozen times and negotiated with the cagey Burmese government, all in the hopes of finding a stash of iconic British Spitfires buried somewhere in the Southeast Asian country.
Cundall started his search after his friend heard from a group of U.S. veterans that they had stashed Spitfires in the region. “We’ve done some pretty silly things in our time, but the silliest was burying Spitfires,” the veterans said.
His interest piqued, Cundall began placing ads in magazines to try to find soldiers who may have been involved.
After a decade and a half of searching, he finally managed to locate the missing airplanes, which had never been flown and were indeed buried while still in their transport crates. “We sent a borehole down and used a camera to look at the crates. They seemed to be in good condition,” Cundall told the Telegraph.
The aircraft arrived at a Royal Air Force Base in Burma in August 1945. But by that point in the war, just before the bombing of Hiroshima, the fighters weren’t needed. “In 1945, Spitfires were ten a penny,” says Cundall. “It was a typical British solution: ‘Let’s bury them lads.’”
(Excerpt) Read more at newsfeed.time.com ...
The market for genuine WWII aircraft is getting much more competitive, particularly for "enemy" types which are the rarest.
The market for genuine WWII aircraft is getting much more competitive, particularly for "enemy" types which are the rarest.
If the governments of Burma or Britain don't steal "confiscate" the planes outright or confiscate his profits via taxation. I've noticed that whenever you make money you have a partner there with his hand in your pocket, but when you're risking your time and savings to get some sort of business going, the government is only there to harass you with regulations.
And of course if you bribe the politicians enough with "campaign contributions" like the executives of soylandra did with the hypocritical thief annointed one in the white house, then you're paid off with other stolen taxpayer funds of which you're expected to donate back to the selfsame politicians.
link to interesting site ping
link to interesting site ping - post #12
kik5150- any idea where in eastern Europe? ;)
Unfortunately, you are correct.
And before anyone here thinks they want to go off and play Indiana Jones and sneak it here and restore it, think again...
The Feds are really careful about warbirds and importing them and having them disarmed post 9/11. Their has been an instance or two where aircraft have been confiscated and fines etc were levied.
I don't blame the folks for wanting to keep it in the barn on the down-low...
Soon to be posted on E-Bay as NIB. (new in box)
I wouldn’t think of restoring one here. There has to be a friendlier place in the world where it could be done.
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