Spitfires (20 of them) Found in Burma

A whole bunch of them.....in fact, over a hundred plus.

As many as 140 World War II Spitfire fighter planes — three to four times the number of airworthy models known to exist — are believed to be buried in near-pristine condition in Myanmar. A British-Myanmar partnership says it will begin digging them up by the end of the month.

The go-ahead for excavation came earlier this week when the Myanmar government signed an agreement with British aviation enthusiast David J. Cundall and his local partner.Cundall, a farmer and businessman, earlier this year announced he had located 20 of the planes, best known for helping the Royal Air Force win mastery of the skies during the Battle of Britain. On Thursday, however, a retired Myanmar geology professor who has assisted in the recovery operation since 1999 said there are about 140 Spitfires buried in various places around the Southeast Asian country, which until 1948 was a British colony called Burma. He did not explain the discrepancy in estimates.

Soe Thein said the British brought crates of Spitfires to Myanmar in the closing stages of the war, but never used them when the Japanese gave up the fight in 1945. The single-seat version of the fighter plane was 9.14 meters (30 feet) long with an 11.3 meter (37 foot) wingspan.

Spitfires in working shape are rare and popular with collectors. In 2009, a restored but airworthy Spitfire was sold by British auction house Bonhams for >1,739,500 ($2,544,130)

Pretty neat to see these become airworthy again. 8-)

Link
 
I'd like to see some more replicas around. There was a German outfit who were building 190s from the original plans and with just a few modern bits that you don't notice from the outside. More 190s, some Typhoons, etc, would all be very cool to see.
 
I'd like to see some more replicas around. There was a German outfit who were building 190s from the original plans and with just a few modern bits that you don't notice from the outside. More 190s, some Typhoons, etc, would all be very cool to see.


Have a look in your own backyard ;) . New Zealand is producing new Mosquitos and a few other newly manufactured WWI & WWII aircraft now, mainly for the American market.
I'll check and get some details from my mate in the know.
 
Have a look in your own backyard ;) . New Zealand is producing new Mosquitos and a few other newly manufactured WWI & WWII aircraft now, mainly for the American market.
I'll check and get some details from my mate in the know.

Oh don't you worry, I'm all over them :D There's a Tempest under restro too, one of those replica 190s is at Omaka as well. There's an outfit over the Wairarapa doing repo WW1 aircraft too. A lot of work is in Auckland...which is a pretty good reason to go back to the den of scrum and villiany.
 
This is interesting. I'm starting to wonder what sort of scam they are running.

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

Archaeologists hunting for World War II Spitfires in Burma believe there are no planes buried at the sites where they have been digging, the BBC understands.

The archaeologists have concluded that evidence does not support the original claim that as many as 124 Spitfires were buried at the end of the war, the BBC's Fergal Keane reports.

Wargaming.net, the firm financing the dig, has also said there are no planes.

But project leader David Cundall says they are looking in the wrong place.

Um, Mr. Project Leader? Isn't it your job to ensure that people dig holes where they are supposed to dig holes?

Dicks. :mad:
 
Why the fuck didn't they spend $20 and hire 100 locals with shovels to dig a fucking hole?

They were going to use Afghans hired by a Turkish construction company, part of job creation overseas that no one can do at home, but they didn't have 2 years to wait for a partially completed hole before the Turks could flee with the money.
 
They were going to use Afghans hired by a Turkish construction company, part of job creation overseas that no one can do at home, but they didn't have 2 years to wait for a partially completed hole before the Turks could flee with the money.

I think I've seen that movie before.
 
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