# Buried WWII Spitfires in crates to be exhumed in Burma!



## Bill Mattocks (Apr 20, 2012)

How cool is this?

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012...a-squadron-lost-wwii-spitfires-to-be-exhumed/



> Like a treasure chest stuffed with priceless booty, as many as 20 World War II-era Spitfire planes are perfectly preserved, buried in crates beneath Burma -- and after 67 years underground, they're set to be uncovered.
> The planes were shipped in standard fashion in 1945 from their manufacturer in England to the Far East country: waxed, wrapped in greased paper and tarred to protect against the elements. They were then buried in the crates they were shipped in, rather than let them fall into enemy hands, said David Cundall, an aviation enthusiast who has spent 15 years and about $200,000 in his efforts to reveal the lost planes.
> 
> 
> Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012...t-wwii-spitfires-to-be-exhumed/#ixzz1sa1AhTkh



You know, growing up reading comics, I always saw the adverts in the back noting that surplus Army Jeeps could be purchased for pennies on the dollar; I wanted to believe that there were warehouses somewhere filled to the  brim with such items, waiting on the public to buy them; it was only much later that I finally realized it was all lies to get your money (I never had any, so never sent them any).  But this reminds me of that, only for real!

I can't wait to see these; hope they're in good shape as seems to be the case so far.


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## Sukerkin (Apr 20, 2012)

So wonderful to hear that soon we may have more of these beautiful planes taking to the skies once more.

As I've said before, I may even have made a thread entitled this, to me the throaty growl of Merlin engines are the very sound of freedom, in all the senses of the word.


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 20, 2012)

Sukerkin said:


> So wonderful to hear that soon we may have more of these beautiful planes taking to the skies once more.
> 
> As I've said before, I may even have made a thread entitled this, to me the throaty growl of Merlin engines are the very sound of freedom, in all the senses of the word.



These apparently have a different type of roar!



> The Spitfire Mark XIV planes are rare for more than one reason: They used Rolls Royce Griffon engines rather than the Merlins used in earlier models to achieve tremendous speeds. Griffon-powered planes could reach 440 mph thanks to the hefty, 2,050-horsepower engines.
> 
> When production of the planes ultimately ended in 1947, 20,334 Spitfires of all versions had been produced, but just 2,053 of them were Griffon-powered versions, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
> 
> The planes were deemed surplus and were buried in Aug., 1945



Still, I completely agree with your statement.  To me, the P51 Mustang is the one iconic image of WWII air superiority for the USA, and gives me a bit of a lump in the throat whenever I see them fly by.


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## Sukerkin (Apr 20, 2012)

Aye, I did consider adding a caveat that I had noted that these were the more powerful Griffon engined Mk IV's, just to prove I'd actually read the article if nothing else .


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 20, 2012)

This is one of the best photographs I've ever taken:




Selfridge ANGB Air Show 2009 by Wigwam Jones, on Flickr

It's only a T-6 Texan, not a Spitfire or a Mustang, but it certainly evokes a certain feeling to me.


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## Bob Hubbard (Apr 20, 2012)

When my grandfather headed home after the war, he said his train rolled past fields of tanks, trucks, and jeeps, that just went on forever.  The resupply ships would dock, and unload and pile them up, never to be used.  There were fields of planes as well.  In some parts of the US today there still are fields of planes, sitting there, rotting. It's sad.


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## zDom (Apr 20, 2012)

Bill Mattocks said:


> How cool is this?



Very, VERY cool. I love those old WW2 birds...


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## Xue Sheng (Apr 20, 2012)

Bill Mattocks said:


> How cool is this?



Very VERY cool


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 20, 2012)

Bob Hubbard said:


> When my grandfather headed home after the war, he said his train rolled past fields of tanks, trucks, and jeeps, that just went on forever.  The resupply ships would dock, and unload and pile them up, never to be used.  There were fields of planes as well.  In some parts of the US today there still are fields of planes, sitting there, rotting. It's sad.



When I served in the Marine Corps, it was only a few years after the end of the Vietnam war.  Many of the men and women I served with were veterans of that war.  I heard first-hand accounts of equipment left behind in Vietnam or blown up there to avoid having it captured by the enemy during the withdrawal.  I also heard that during the evacuation of Saigon, helicopters loaded with refugees were landing on the ships, unloading passengers, and being pushed over the side into the ocean to make room for more helicopters to land.  All the fighter jets were thrown overboard to make room for people.  Which is good, don't get me wrong, but dang.

I can also report that many things were used.  I ate C rations with date stamps as far back as 1969 on them.  When we switched from sateen green utility uniforms to camouflage in 1979, there was a period of time when we wore the Vietnam-era slant-pocket rip-stop jungle cammies until they were all gone.  My M-16A1 was a Vietnam-issued piece.  My 1911A1 was a "Remington Rand" made in 1944 by the serial number, and my steel pot was WWII-issue as well.  Even my magazine pouches on my cartridge belt were made for M14 magazines, not M16 (we had to pad them on the bottom with clothes pins to make M16 mags fit).  Whenever we were in the field at Camp Pendleton, the place was covered with M1 Garand clips.  You could pick them up anywhere you looked.


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## Sukerkin (Apr 20, 2012)

Fascinating to hear such first hand experiences about things that never normally make it onto screen or printed page.


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## Bob Hubbard (Apr 20, 2012)

Sukerkin said:


> Fascinating to hear such first hand experiences about things that never normally make it onto screen or printed page.



Suk,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...pictured-in-stunning-Google-Earth-photos.html

Enjoy.   Also, google "military boneyard"


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## Sukerkin (Apr 21, 2012)

Aye, I have seen this place before.  Astonishing to see all that manufacturing and design creativity just sitting there for decades.  Mind you, some of them do end up in all kinds of places, like mobile phones for example, when it is decided to break some of them up for the valuable materials from which they are made.

As an aside, what I was really referring to in my post above was the little details, like Bills's comment about having to us clothes pegs to make the ammo pouches fit the magazines.  Such snippets hardly ever come to light for those of us who have not been in the military - I can learn about generals and battles and technical details from books and programmes but the 'human scale' stuff sometimes disappears without trace.


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## WC_lun (Apr 21, 2012)

The three planes I just druel over from that era are the Spitfire, the Corsair, and the P-51.  I don't know what it is, but all three of those just draw my eye like a beuatiful woman.  I think its the curves with a hint of danger from the gun mounts


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## zDom (Apr 21, 2012)

I've talked to some of those old WW2 pilots (had lunch with Gabby Gabreski ) 

Yeah, it was war and it had it horrors. But they were 19 year old kids behind the stick of 2,000 hp engines that give any man chills to hear, their finger on the trigger of six .50 cal guns ...  I mean, if you have to go to war, what a way to go, eh?


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## MA-Caver (Apr 21, 2012)

zDom said:


> I've talked to some of those old WW2 pilots (had lunch with Gabby Gabreski )
> 
> Yeah, it was war and it had it horrors. But they were 19 year old kids behind the stick of 2,000 hp engines that give any man chills to hear, their finger on the trigger of six .50 cal guns ...  I mean, if you have to go to war, what a way to go, eh?



Yeah but 19 year old kids (sometimes even 18-17 year olds lying about their ages) were a HELLUVA lot more *mature* than (most) 19 year olds of today.


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## Scott T (Apr 21, 2012)

MA-Caver said:


> Yeah but 19 year old kids (sometimes even 18-17 year olds lying about their ages) were a HELLUVA lot more *mature* than (most) 19 year olds of today.


 Or their parents, sadly.


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## mmartist (May 27, 2012)

I hope the birdies are in good condition. According to a friend of mine if they have been treated well enough with wax and grease they could last eternity and a little more .


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## 72ronin (May 27, 2012)

The Spitfire has to be the sexiest thing that ever took to the skies!.

http://youtu.be/zndm19l61YM

(See if you can spot her coming at you in this one  )


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