The new Battle of Burma: Find 20 buried Spitfires and make them fly
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.
But the Mark II Spitfires in the secret haul never saw action. Earl Mountbatten issued an order for them to be hidden in 1945 to prevent foreign forces from getting their hands on them as the British army demobilised. The aircraft, straight from the production line, were buried in crates at a depth of 4ft to 6ft to preserve them
I think they might have the variant wrong, so it will be interesting, to say the least, to see what version these really are. The Mark II was an early version of the Spitfire, used during the Battle of Britain. By 1945 there had been over 20 different variants of the Spitfire built, so it seems unlikely that the Mark II was still being built. Then again, I’m no expert so maybe they are right.
Either way, it will be exciting to see what is finally unearthed.
Update: Another article says that these are Mark 14s, not Mark IIs.
Lost Squadron Of Pickled Spitfires Found
This article also indicates that the planes and crates were covered with preservatives making their preservation more likely.
One more article with more details.
British farmer’s quest to find lost Spitfires in Burma
15 years and 130,000 British Pounds. That’s an investment. I hope that the government at least reimburses him for his out of pocket costs.
That is FANTASTIC!
Zero time WWII fighters are scarce, but to find 14 of them??? WOW!!!
Yikes !!! Talk about hitting the mother load. Back in September of 2010 in England, there was a Spit fly-in to mark the end of The Battle of Britain. The show included a fly-by of 16 air-worth spits.
In related news, there’s a B-25 fly-in RIGHT NOW at Wright Patterson in Ohio to mark the 70th anniversary of The Doolittle Raid. The five living survivors of the original 80 air crew members will be present for the event. The gathering of about 20 B-25 Mitchells is the largest since the end of WW2.
Brad
I didn’t think that there were 20 Mitchells left in the world. Of course no mention of the anniversary in the Lame Stream Media. Some celebrity no doubt it getting married, divorced, rehabbed, or buried, and that’s the big story. No wonder I don’t watch TV news.
Too Old,
There are about 40 Mitchell’s in the US in airworthy condition if you believe the wikipedia entry.
I heard about this from The Collings Foundation. In addition to a Mitchell, The Collings group regularly flied their B-17, B-24, and TP-51C ‘stang. I’m on their email list and got a note a while back . . . asking for donations to raise the $25k needed to bring their Mitchell to Ohio.
Brad