The new Battle of Burma: Find 20 buried Spitfires and make them fly

Daily Mail ^

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Historic planes buried in Second World War are to be shipped back to Britain after their mystery locations were discovered

War leaders did not want them to fall into foreign hands when they demobilised in 1945

Hidden in crates at a depth of 4ft to 6ft the RAF then forgot where they were

Twenty brand-new RAF Spitfires could soon reach for the sky following a deal reached with Burma yesterday. Experts believe they have discovered the locations of around 20 of the Second World War fighters buried at airfields around the country. David Cameron has secured an agreement that they will be returned to Britain.

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pong

[taildragger]

Their were claims in EAA’s Sport Aviation about 15 or 20 years ago of up to 1000 P51’s burried on an Island and they needed other to concurr with the person claiming it. It never went any further...

[tomkat]

Very cool !
Did I hear that there were only a couple Spits still operational in the UK ?

[nuconvert]

Don’t know

[rlmorel]

Argh! How come I couldn’t stumble on one of those!

[central_va]

Now we need to find 20 buried FW-190’s and we got a fight on our hands.

[Timber Rattler]

The Brits may need them now for their aircraft carrier.

[C210N]

I’d like to see our armed forces bury ALL US aircraft in undisclosed locations right NOW.

Sometime shortly after the undocumented foreign communist marxist usurper is kicked out of our house, we would go back and unearth them.

I’m thinking here of the destruction so far of our nuclear deterrent, anti-missile defense, etc.

In addition, it might be good to bury computers with our best TopSecret technology, just so that it could not be found quickly in case of any upcoming “fire sales”.

[smokingfrog]

The shipping crates probably rotted away long ago, so I’m not sure what kind of shape they’ll be in when/if they find them.

(unless they filled the whole crate with cosmoline, in which case it will take 20 years to clean it all off)

[tanknetter]

Their were claims in EAA’s Sport Aviation about 15 or 20 years ago of up to 1000 P51’s burried on an Island and they needed other to concurr with the person claiming it. It never went any further...

There were also supposed to be bunkers under Berlin that were loaded with late-war Luftwaffe aircraft. Allegedly the bunkers were sealed and bulldozed in. Big story in the aviation world a few years back, nothing else ever came of it.

There were also stories about a divisions-worth of armor and vehicles that Patton hid out in the US Desert Southwest, to be used in the event of a German invasion from Mexico (along the lines of the Zimmerman telegram being implemented 25 years late).

Then there's the legendary British "Strategic Reserve" of early/mid-20th Century steam engines sealed in old railroad tunnels, to be used in the event of a war that cripples the oil transport industry.

[tanknetter]

The shipping crates probably rotted away long ago, so I’m not sure what kind of shape they’ll be in when/if they find them.

As was pointed out on WIX, these are Spitfires; all they need are the dataplates in order to survive. We'll all be able to hear the sound of the safeties clicking "off" on the checkbooks if they find these ...

[Caipirabob]

WOW! What a beautiful treasure for the British people and all of humanity.

And especially since Britain and America could truly use the inspiration of our greatest generation about now.

Cheers and congrats and nicely done to the good folks in Burma.

[Carriage Hill]

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

[texanyankee]

ping!

[diogenes ghost]

My old man joined the RCAF in early '39, and being a private pilot already was sent straight into fighter training then on to Old Blighty. He flew Spits in the Battle of Britain, had 6 kills, was shot down (glycolled) over the Channel twice.

Second ditching broke his back, that was the end of fighters for him.

He sure loved Spits though, except for that damned radiator hanging down.

[PhiloBedo]

This is AMAZING. 20 of them. That’ll bring the Spit back from the brink of extinction. I look forward to more information, like what Mk number they are.

[PhiloBedo]

OK..I read the article, MK IIs. Very nice, indeed.

[jesseam]

Re: Did I hear that there were only a couple Spits still operational in the UK ?

I believe they are at RAF Waddington where at least one Lancaster in flying condition is located. My son in law is stationed at Waddington as a USAF exchange officer.

[tomkat]

I saw an obscure BBC docu awhile back of a Brit woman who owned one of the few still flying .. one of the two-seater versions.
Her husband had bought it originally, then he died not long after it was restored, so she got qualified and took it to airshows, etc.

Just looked it up .. Carolyn Grace

Enjoyed your profile bio, btw   *salute*